Embracing The Rain
by Alison Halliwell
Summary: A story of love, loss, and finding the strength to face your destiny. Futurefic. Alison is devstated when her true love is killed by WYatt, and she vows to take revenge. CH 17 up! Please R&R! If you review my story, i will review yours! Thanx!
1. Running

Disclaimer: I don't on any of the characters, places, events, or concepts from Charmed or any other shows/ books/ movies. I own the characters, places, events, and concepts I created. Feel free to borrow them, but please notify me if you do.  
  
Akashna hid behind the pillar, her heart beating as fast as a rabbit's. A fireball came whizzing around the corner, missing her by an inch. She tried to think, but she was too afraid. What options did she have? She could stay here and be killed, surrender and be killed, or try to run and be killed. She laughed ruefully. Not much of a choice. So only one option remained. She had to fight. She conjured up an enormous energy ball and stepped out from behind the pillar. They advanced toward her, stopping when they saw her energy ball. She could take out all of them with something like that, but of course more would just come.  
  
"What the hell," she muttered, and threw it with all her might. It hit the first demon and engulfed him instantly, and the resulting explosion took out the remaining assassins. She quickly shimmered to Japan, the Hawaii, then England, then a thousand other places, trying to keep them off her trail. But they were catching up to her, and she knew it. It was obvious that she had to do something else, or she didn't have a chance. She'd defeated a half dozen demons easily, but how would she hold up against fifty, or a hundred? She had no illusions; she knew Wyatt would kill her if he could, after what she had done, even if he was her father... But he didn't know she was his daughter, she reminded herself.  
  
Maybe if she told him he would give her another chance... Stop being ridiculous, she told herself, he is a heartless monster, and the knowledge that you are his daughter will not stop him. In fact, the fear of your power will only make it worse. Her only choice was to fight, but how could she? How could she not?  
  
As she paused to catch her breath, demons shimmered in. Not a hundred, as she had feared, but a thousand. There was no chance she could even try to fight this army. They would kill her...  
  
A face appeared in front of her, and she laughed to herself. She was hallucinating! She recognized the face in front of her; she had seen that long brown hair a hundred times before...  
  
"Grandmother?" She whispered incredulously, "is that you?" Piper Halliwell was exactly as Akashna remembered her, with long dark brown hair streaked with gray, and that weary expression she always wore, but she had been dead for sixteen years. Akashna still remembered that day, though she had only been three years old.  
  
She had seen Piper reduced to ashes in a matter of minutes, killed by demons sent by her own son. She had hidden in a closet, hoping that they would leave once they had done what they came to do. And they did. After that, Lilith, her mother, had appeared and spirited her away, changing her name so no one would know who she was. Shock hit her when she realized she no longer knew her true name.  
  
Akashna tried to understand what Piper was saying, but all she caught were the words "home" and "safe." Akashna repeated the word over and over in her head, safe safe safe . And just before the fireballs hit her, she vanished in a swirl of white lights.  
  
* * *  
  
She reappeared in an attic she remembered well, from her childhood and from her frequent visits to the Museum- she was in Halliwell Manor! But the Museum is supposed to be impenetrable, she mused, so how did I get in? Then it hit her. Impenetrable to demons, maybe! She laughed at the huge oversight that Wyatt had made, but not to Wyatt himself, and since I'm his daughter, I can get in to!  
  
She smiled at this wonderful revelation, then quickly put up a protective shield around the place. No one would be able to get into the house, unless she le them in. Two demons shimmered in, catching her by surprise. Why didn't I realize there would be some already in the house? She wondered, then easily dispatched the first one with an energy ball. Before she had time to conjure up another one, the other demon had thrown two fireballs her way. She orbed out, summoning an energy ball, then threw it as soon as she reappeared. The demon vanished in a satisfying explosion, and Akashna turned to the holographic Book of Shadows.  
  
She took a deep breath. I can do this, she reminded herself, then began to speak .  
  
"I call upon the ancient power,  
  
to aid me in this darkest hour,  
  
let the Book return to this place,  
  
claim refuge in its rightful space."  
  
When it worked, she jumped up and down squealing like a child, clapping her hands. I did it! It actually worked!  
  
As she stood there, the pages of the book began to turn, blown by an unseen wind. They finally came to a stop on a page with an incantation and a picture of a scroll winding around a pole. Just then she heard noise from outside. She crossed the room to the window and looked out. A woman was trying to quiet an angry tour group and demons had shimmered in. Satisfied that none of them could get into the house, Alison returned to the Book and began to read the spell aloud.  
  
"Hear now the words of the witches," she began, her voice trembling. In the sky above the house, clouds began to gather.  
  
"The secrets we hid in the night," the sky darkened, and the tourists outside stopped yelling and stared at the house, afraid.  
  
"The oldest of gods are invoked here," her voice gained confidence, and rain began to fall.  
  
"The great work of magic is sought," Two demons appeared and hurriedly rushed the tourists away. Another tried to shimmer into the house, but was stopped by the wall. He stood there, confused.  
  
"In this night and in this hour," her voice was strong and determined. A wind began to blow in the attic, and thunder stated to rumble. More demons had appeared and where staring at the house and the sky with apprehension and outright fear. Absorbed in her spell, Akashna saw none of this.  
  
"I call upon the ancient power," the wind swirled around her, and lightning flashed, followed instantly by thunder.  
  
"Bring me my witchly powers three" she demanded. The wind whipped her hair around her head, and she was at the center of a howling whirlwind.  
  
"I want the power," she screamed, and a bolt of lightning hit one of the demons outside, killing him instantly.  
  
"GIVE ME THE POWER!" Her head reared back and her eyes sparkled with pure power. Her hair was blown out behind her by the wind, and she looked as if she was standing at the edge of a precipice, ready to jump, and to fly.  
  
In that instant she knew she was no longer the demon Akashna, and she never would be again. She was Alison Prudence Wyatt Halliwell. That was who she had been born to be. 


	2. Reporting

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, events, places, or concepts from Charmed of any other copyrighted thing. I do own any characters, events, places, or concepts that I created. Feel free to borrow them.  
  
Lekrad fidgeted nervously, staring at the barrier that had popped into existence around Haliwell Museum. It looked like the force shield that Wyatt could produce, but surely Lekrad, as head general, would have been notified if such a thing had been planned?  
  
If he attacked the museum, and Wyatt was in there, he would be guilty of treason, but if he didn't attack, and an enemy was in there, he would be killed also.  
  
Not much of a choice, he thought ruefully, so I'll just have to report it to Wyatt and hope for the best.  
  
Lekrad quickly summoned a patrol of demons and ordered them to watch the house, then shimmered off to tell Wyatt.  
  
In the sky, a storm began to gather.  
  
* * *  
  
Lekrad materialized in the waiting room outside Wyatt's office. There were about ten people waiting. Lekrad hoped he could skip the line.  
  
"Mr. Lekrad," the secretary greeted him, "what is so important that you come here unannounced, and in person?"  
  
"I can't tell you," he replied gruffly, "it's for his ears only."  
  
"Ooh," she said, interested.  
  
"Let's just keep this between you and me," he told her, "I don't want word getting out about this. Got it?"  
  
She nodded, too frightened to speak. Something really big must be going on, something bad. She shivered, hoping it wouldn't affect her.  
  
"Now," he said, I don't have time to wait.  
  
"But sir," she protested, "you don't have an appointment, and Mr. Wyatt is a very busy man. You'll have to wait."  
  
"This can't wait. I don't care how busy he is. I need to speak to him right now," he subtly threatened.  
  
"Y-yes sir," she stammered, and paged the inner office. "Mr. Wyatt? Mr. Lekrad is here to speak with you. He says it can't wait."  
  
"Send him in," came the gruff reply.  
  
"Here goes nothing," Lekrad muttered, and walked through the door. The two demons parted to let him pass, and created a hole in the force field.  
  
"So, tell me about this emergency of yours," Wyatt demanded, looking just a little but worried.  
  
"Well, you see," Lekrad began nervously, "it's about Haliwell Museum. We were about to start a tour, when a force shield – just- appeared. I don't know how it happened and I didn't know what to do and-"  
  
"What did this force shield look like?" Wyatt interrupted him, looking truly alarmed.  
  
"It looked like yours, only brighter. And bigger. It looked," he shivered, "it looked good."  
  
"What have you done to address the situation?" Wyatt asked, a bit angry that someone would have the power to do such a thing. Maybe- but no she'd been killed years ago. Hadn't she?  
  
"I set up a patrol to watch the house and came straight here." Lekrad reported. "No one else knows about this."  
  
"Good job," Wyatt praised him, "now leave. I will handle the situation from here on. Just wait for my orders."  
  
"Yes sir," Lekrad replied, relieved that he wouldn't have to make any decisions. He always seemed to make the wrong ones. But this time he'd done well. Wyatt himself had said so. He smiled and left, leaving Wyatt to ponder the situation.  
  
Who could have done such a thing? Hard as it was for him to admit it, this person could be more powerful than he was. He remembered a conversation he had had with his younger brother about a year ago.  
  
"I will save you," Chris had said. What an idiot.  
  
"You still don't understand," Wyatt had said, "it's not about good or evil. "It's about power.  
  
"And whoever has the most power wins?" Chris had guessed.  
  
Wyatt had smiled, "Yes."  
  
So what happens, he wondered, when someone more powerful arrives? Do I just give up without a fight? The answer was easy. No. 


	3. Planning

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters, events, places, or concepts from Charmed of any other copyrighted thing. I do own any characters, events, places, or concepts that I created. Feel free to borrow them.  
  
Alison Halliwell stood over the Book, her hands touching the cover. She concentrated on the page she wanted to see, then lifted her hands. The pages turned until the book was open to the time- travel spell.  
  
She took a pen and carefully drew a small triquatra on the page. Then she began to speak the spell on the opposite page.  
  
"Hear these words, hear the rhyme,  
  
Heed the hope within my mind,  
  
Send me back where I will find  
  
What I wish in place and time."  
  
When she finished speaking, the triquatra glowed a bright blue, becoming a tiny time portal. Alison took a deep breath to steady herself, then slipped the letter she had prepared thought he portal. It read:  
  
Dear Chris,  
  
My name is Alison Halliwell. You probably think that I was killed a long time ago, but I wasn't. I have just been hiding so that my father, Wyatt, wouldn't find me. I have invaded and sealed off Halliwell Manor, but I'm not sure how long I can keep up the force- field. Please come back through the portal and help me, I can send you back to the same time you left using time- travel. Please help me. I don't know what to do. I've never fought a war before.  
  
Your niece,  
  
Alison Prudence Halliwell.  
  
P.S. Destroy this letter when you are done reading it. I don't want Wyatt to find it.  
  
* * *  
  
Chris was leafing through the Book of Shadows. He wasn't sure what he was looking for, he just had a feeling something was about to happen, and he wanted to be prepared. He let the Book fall open on two blank pages. He traced the place where the time- travel spell would be in the future. As he thought back to the misery he had been through, a triquatra appeared on the page opposite the one he was looking at. If he remembered correctly, that page was still blank in the future.  
  
A letter rose out of the glowing blue portal. Filled with excitement, Chris pulled it out and studied it. His name was written on the front in ornate script. He slowly opened the envelope and pulled out the letter, watching for bobby- traps. When nothing happened, he unfolded the letter and began to read. As soon as he had finished, he called Phoebe. She came running up the stairs, a bit scared.  
  
"What is it Chris? Is it a demon?"  
  
"No, it's just- can you touch this? See if you get a premonition?"  
  
"Sure," she replied, taking the envelope. She gasped as her mind was flooded with images.  
  
"What did you see?" Chris asked eagerly.  
  
"I saw a girl, maybe fourteen, putting this letter into the book. She was crying. She said, 'Please come.'"  
  
Chris nodded. That settles it. I'm going.  
  
"Well if that's it I have to go now," Phoebe told him.  
  
"What? Oh, sure, yeah. That's all." As soon as she was gone, Chris studied the portal. How was he going to fit through something that small? But he needn't have worried. The portal grew until it was big enough for him to fit through, even though the page hadn't grown. Chris didn't waste time trying to figure out how that worked, he just jumped through.  
  
When Alison saw Chris' head emerging from the portal, she jumped up and helped him out. Chris studied her face carefully.  
  
She had the same eyes that he and Leo and Wyatt had, and he had never seen that shade of blonde hair on a Halliwell, but the set of her jaw, the determination in her eyes, the aura of power around her- she was unmistakably a Halliwell. But there was also sadness, fear, and despair in her eyes. He hated to think about what she must have been through.  
  
"I'm Alison Halliwell," she told him, "Wyatt's daughter."  
  
"I know," he replied. There was an awkward silence.  
  
"So," she said brightly, "What's the plan?"  
  
"Well, we should start by freeing the members of the rebellion; the one's Wyatt kept alive while he looked for a way to drain their powers."  
  
"That makes sense. Ok, I'll practice my powers while you make potions."  
  
She orbed downstairs, and practiced on various statues in the museum. Then she went outside, blowing up and freezing stones to intimidate the demons.  
  
"Lord Wyatt will kill you, witch!" one of the demons screamed out, "You will never get away with this!"  
  
"Oh, shut up," Alison said, rolling her eyes. The demon continued ranting, so she blew him up through the shield. Wow, lucky I didn't freeze him. She still had no control over whether she blew up or froze the demons.  
  
She tried to levitate, but just spun around in the air, quickly freezing the demons. About half of them blew up. She then took a deep breath, and let it out slowly as she sank to the ground. She practiced levitating for an hour until she had it down, then worked on her telekinesis.  
  
"Okay, good enough," she muttered, and orbed back into the house. She reappeared about a foot in the air, floating. She slowly lowered herself to the ground, shaking.  
  
"Okay, good enough, let's go. Are you done with the potions?"  
  
"Uh, yeah, just about. Can you put this into the pot with your telekinesis?"  
  
"What? Oh. Sure," she said, standing a safe distance away. She floated the powder in, and the potion exploded with a bang. Alison bottled it and put about twenty bottles in her bag.  
  
Then Chris orbed them out.  
  
They arrived outside Wyatt's castle. The dark, imposing walls and towers made Alison shiver.  
  
We can do this, she reminded herself "The dungeon is that way," Chris told her, startling her out of her thoughts. She nodded and shimmered them to the spot he was pointing.  
  
"Why not orb?" he asked.  
  
"Orbs can be seen. Besides, I'm not that good at orbing." The section of wall they were staring at looked just like the rest, but Alison could sense the fear and despair emanating from it. As she was about to go in, she burst out laughing. "What is it?" Chris asked her, "Is something wrong?"  
  
"No, it's just that this whole situation would be so hilarious if it wasn't for the whole imminent death thing. I mean, this is the twenty-first century, for heavens sake. What's with the whole medieval gig?"  
  
"I guess that's just how he likes it."  
  
"Okay," Alison said, "I'm going in." Then her body went limp, and she reappeared inside the castle. She was in a cell with a young woman, maybe twenty- five.  
  
"Hi, I'm Alison. We're here to get you out."  
  
"I'm Maka, a witch- whitelighter mix."  
  
"Perfect. Now this is what I need you to do." Alison quickly outlined her plan, "Can you handle it?"  
  
"Yeah, I think so. But what about Alex?  
  
"Alex?"  
  
"He's in solitary, behind that door over there- I won't be able to get a message to him. And the shields on his cell are linked directly to Wyatt."  
  
"Linked directly to Wyatt, huh? I can work with that. I'll get him out, and you and Chris get the others back to the Manor. I'll be back this time tomorrow, kay?"  
  
"All right," Maka said, as Alison orbed out. 


	4. Fighting

Chris and Alison arrived back at the Manor. As soon as they materialized, Alison collapsed on the couch, exhausted from astral projecting through the shields around the cells. After a few minutes, she got back up, ready to continue with the plan.  
  
"He's here," Chris told her urgently, "we have to hurry." Alison walked outside and sat down on the steps in a cross-legged position. Chris stayed inside, as they had agreed, so that Wyatt wouldn't know he was involved, or even that he was in this time.  
  
"Put that shield down and come out of there, and I'll let you live," Wyatt shouted. Alison had to laugh. He wasn't a very good liar. Wyatt saw this and began battering the shield with all the magic he could summon.  
  
Alison closed her eyes and felt for his magic. She was alarmed at how similar it was to hers. Why did he turn evil, and not I? Surely I am more powerful than him, yet I don't want more power, and he does. Finally she realized. From when he was a child, Leo paid more attention to him that Chris, because he had more power. So he equates power with happiness He couldn't be more wrong..  
  
Following the plan, Alison went into his mind and redirected the energy. To try to stop it would have been suicide, but all she did was aim it at another target- the shields around his prison. When he was completely exhausted, and the force field still had not wavered, Wyatt began to grow suspicious.  
  
Alison ran back inside, and orbed to the prison with Chris.  
  
"Now!" she called out, and used her telekinesis to bend the titanium bars of the prison, bars no longer enhanced by magic. Whitelighters orbed out with their assigned witches, but Maka and a few others stayed behind to fight.  
  
Alison quickly walked to the door of Alex's cell, concentrating on the shields. She showed them her, shield, her magic.  
  
I'm the one who created you, she thought at them, I am your master. Let me through. The shields were suspicious at first, they wanted to know why she was different, speaking in thoughts rather than words. Finally the shields parted, and she orbed in.  
  
Standing there was a teenage boy who didn't look a day over fifteen. Huh. Wonder what he did that pissed Wyatt off so badly.  
  
"Wha- Who are you? How-" he stammered, amazed.  
  
"Prison break," she explained, "let's go help the others."  
  
"O-okay," he said, still astonished, "But-" she grabbed his arm and orbed him out.  
  
When they reappeared outside the prison cell, he took in the situation.  
  
"I got your back," he told her, and they began to fight. His power was pyrokinesis, and he set demons on fire while she blew them up. He cried out in pain as a fireball grazed his shoulder. The others were gone now, it was just them against the demons, and they were closing in fast.  
  
Alison tried to orb out, but she hit a wall. She frantically tried to shimmer, but was still blocked.  
  
"I can't orb," she muttered to him. The demons threw more and more energy balls, and it was all they could do to stop them. The more they vanquished, the more appeared.  
  
They can't do this to me! They're just demons! I refuse to let them kill me! She thought, growing angry. All of a sudden, the demons flew away from Alison and Alex, smashing into the walls. From then on, they just blew them up one by one, but more shimmered in.  
  
"We can't go on like this," Alex told her, "They'll kill us." Then, to put the icing on the cake, Wyatt appeared.  
  
He laughed. "You thought you could defeat me? No one can, and no one will. I am the last of the Halliwells, and no one is stronger than me." Alison glared at him, and her anger for years of hiding, of living in fear, her pain at seeing her mother tortured and killed by this man, all her emotions, locked deep within her heart, came to the surface.  
  
She screamed, and every demon in the room blew up, leaving Wyatt looking a bit scared.  
  
"You're wrong," she said softly, "You're not the last of the Halliwells." Then she raised her hands and imprisoned him in his own force shield. "Father," she added, and orbed out with Alex, knowing instinctively the binding would be lifted.  
  
* * *  
  
Alison stood before the freed witches and whitelighters. "We have fought hard for this day, but though we have won the battle, we still must fight the war. We are free, but there are thousands who aren't. We have proven that together, we are stronger than Wyatt, though alone, he has defeated us. We can win this was, and liberate San Francisco. Congratulations. We just became an army." The cheers were resounding.  
  
* * *  
  
Alison stood alone on the balcony, staring at the ruined city of San Francisco. Tears slid down her cheeks, for those that had been lost in the battle for freedom. Her mother, with her kind green eyes. Alison still remembered her smile, her laugh. Why? Why do people have to die? She knew the answer, but hated it. I didn't ask for this power, and I didn't want it. But I have it, so I'll fight, until I die if necessary.  
  
Alex came and stood beside her. "You okay?"  
  
She nodded numbly.  
  
"We'll be all right," he told her. "Whatever happens, we'll face it. Together." And as their lips met, she knew she would never be alone again. 


	5. To Run From The Past

Chapter Five- to run from the past.  
  
::Flashback to when Alison was six::  
  
Alison's mother tickled her, and she shrieked with laughter.  
  
"Found you!" Alison told her mom proudly, "Now it's my turn to hide!"  
  
"Yes it is," Lilith gave her daughter a big hug, then Alison disappeared, using her power to make herself invisible. She had lost that power when she turned ten and no longer needed it.  
  
Then a group of demons shimmered into the room, led by a young man with shaggy blonde hair. Lilith quickly stood, conjuring a simulacrum of Alison.  
  
"Stay behind me," she whispered to the construct, pretending it was the real Alison, "Stay hidden," she was pretending to speak to the girl hiding behind her, but Alison knew she was really talking to her. She nodded, even though Lilith couldn't see her, and tried to make herself invisible, hiding behind a potted plant only feet away from Wyatt.  
  
"How dare you betray me like this? You know what the penalty for harboring a witch is!" He angrily conjured a fireball, as Alison looked on helplessly.  
  
"Please," Lilith begged, "she's your daughter, don't hurt her."  
  
"My daughter? Then she must have great power. All the more reason to destroy her!" He laughed triumphantly, and instantly killed the simulacrum with his fireball.  
  
"No!" Lilith screamed, her horror only partly feigned. She knew that he would kill her, and then who would take care of Alison? Hiding in terror, Alison almost screamed as she saw herself killed, but she stayed hidden, just like she had been told.  
  
He laughed, an advanced on her, holding a fireball. "Please don't kill me," she begged, "I promise I'll never betray you again!"  
  
But he only laughed. "I can tell you're lying. Why bother, I could never forgive you."  
  
"Please," she begged, trembling. But there was no mercy in his eyes. He threw the fireball. Alison wanted to run out and attack him. "Stay hidden" her mother's voice echoed in her mind. The fireball did not kill her- after all, she was an ancient powerful demon. He threw another, and she screamed as she was wreathed in flames. "Stay hidden."  
  
Alison watched helplessly as her mother grew weaker with each blast. She couldn't take much more of this. "Stay hidden."  
  
This time when the flames cleared, there was nothing left but ashes. Alison stared in muted shock. 'This can't be happening,' she thought, 'this can't be real.' "Stay hidden"  
  
She wanted to scream, "Mommy!" but her mother's parting words cautioned her. "Stay hidden."  
  
She waited until they had disappeared, then screamed her throat raw. She touched the burn mark with her finger, tracing its edges. "I love you, Mommy," she was barely able to whisper, "and I'll stay hidden until I can kill him." Then she collapsed to the ground, sobbing.  
  
::End flashback::  
  
Alison sat bolt upright in her cot, trying not to scream. She realized she was sweating. She orbed outside, into the cool night air, then she started to cry. She sat on the ground, bringing her knees to her chest, sobbing.  
  
"Hey kid, you okay?" Maka asked her, walking outside and sitting down next to her.  
  
"Not really. It's like when he killed my other, there was this hole left inside me. I thought it had healed, but it only scabbed over. And all this..."  
  
"Brings back painful memories," Maka finished. "I know. You'll be okay, we all will. We'll kill him, and avenge your mother. Listen to me. You'll be fine."  
  
"But how can I be? What if I just turn out evil, like him? How can I fight with that prospect looming over me? How can I take that risk? Lives are at stake."  
  
"You wont become evil. You are an amazing person and you risked everything to save us. You could never become evil."  
  
"How do you know," she asked hopelessly, "he's my father, he's the son of a charmed one and he's evil, so why couldn't I be? I'm just afraid that if I kill him to avenge my mother, if I let my anger take over, I'll become as bad as him, or worse."  
  
"Listen to me, Alison. You are good. Just remember that, and it doesn't matter who your parents are, or who others want you to be. All that matters is that you want to be good, so you are. You can do this," Maka comforted her.  
  
Alison smiled thinly, "Thanks, I needed that."  
  
"My pleasure."  
  
* * *  
  
Wyatt threw all the power he possessed at the force shield trapping him, and it wavered long enough for him to orb out. As soon as he left, it disappeared.  
  
'How can this be happening? I killed her, I saw her die.' Then he remembered that Lilith was rumored to have the power to create simulacrums, constructs that resembled a person, but had no actual connection to them.  
  
If the little girl he had destroyed was only a fake, he was doomed. He knew the prophecy. He frowned and shook those unpleasant thoughts from his mind. He had to concentrate on defeating this girl.  
  
::Flashback::  
  
Wyatt was sitting on top of the Golden Gate Bridge, laughing. He knew no one could defeat him now. He was still exhilarated from killing his first innocent. He remembered the way she had screamed as the flames consumed her.  
  
The fifteen year old boy was already well on his way to becoming truly evil, and taking over the city. But one obstacle remained in his way- his parents. Of course, Leo was completely clueless, but his mother was starting to realize that something was up. He knew that soon she would find out, but he couldn't bring himself to kill her. At least, not yet.  
  
He conjured an energy ball and twirled it on his finger, like a basketball. He sensed that someone was coming, and quickly extinguished it. But it was only his demonic girlfriend, Lilith.  
  
Lilith claimed to be the first woman created, thrown out of the Garden of Eden because she wouldn't obey Adam. She had then returned as a serpent, to tempt Eve with an apple.  
  
Wyatt didn't know if this was true, but he did know that Lilith was a very powerful demon. 'Almost as powerful as me.' The unbidden thought made him frown. 'She would never betray me- would she?'  
  
As soon as he saw her, he knew something was wrong. Her usual evil laughter was replaced with a melancholy that scared him.  
  
"What's wrong?" he asked her, worried.  
  
"I- I think I'm pregnant," she told him, looking scared.  
  
"What!?! How can that be? Oh, this is the worst time for this!" He buried his head in his hands, trying to figure out what to do.  
  
"I don't know how it happened," she told him, "It shouldn't be possible, but it's happening, so we just have to deal with it."  
  
"Okay, let me think. We'll just have to bind your powers."  
  
Now it was Lilith's turn to be astonished, "You can't do that! I need those powers!"  
  
"Just until the baby is born. That way, her demonic powers will be bound, until I unbind them. We have to tell my mother about the baby, and she can't know you're a demon. It's our only option. I'm not strong enough to battle the Charmed Ones yet. But I will be, just wait."  
  
::End Flashback:: 


	6. To Rebel Against the Present

Chapter 6- To Rebel Against The Present  
  
"Okay, I'm ready," Alison said. She was standing outside the house, with the rest of the Resistance behind her. They were there in case what she was trying to do failed. The demons outside the force shield were ready to attack, although they were scared of what Alison could do.  
  
She reached out with her mind, and merged with the shield. She explored its every nuance, talking to it, and learning everything that had happened to it since she had put it in place.  
  
Then she put her energy into it, expanding it, so that it pushed the demonic guards backwards as it grew. She expanded it until the iridescent blue shield protected an area at least five times the size of the house.  
  
Her energy expended, she collapsed to the ground. Out cold. The shield wavered, but held.  
  
* * * Trask, the leader of the patrol team, quickly contacted Wyatt. "Lord Wyatt? The shield is expanding. What should we do?"  
  
The answer was terse and angry, "Just continue patrolling. I'll be right there to inspect. Report any other anomalies to me immediately."  
  
Traz swallowed. 'Here? He's coming here?' He took a deep breath. "Yes m'Lord."  
  
* * *  
  
Wyatt slammed the comlink down angrily. 'How can she do this to me?' he thought, 'She should be dead! This is a disaster, an unmitigated disaster!' He killed done of the demons standing guard with a fireball, watching in satisfaction as he screamed and died. The other fidgeted uncomfortably, but said nothing. Occurrences like that were common when one worked for Wyatt.  
  
* * *  
  
They lay Alison down on one of the beds that Stephen had conjured, then Maka went outside to keep watch. Alex knelt down beside Alison, worried. Her face was white, and her breathing was shallow. He knew that if something happened to her, the shield would disappear and they would be left defenseless. But more than that, he cared for her.  
  
He brushed a strand of hair out of her face, tucking it behind her ear. "Come back to me," he whispered.  
  
* * * As Wyatt was about to shimmer to the Manor, he felt Alison gathering power, preparing to expand the shield. He smiled. 'This is my chance!' He sent his mind along the channel that bound each to the other, and as she opened herself to the magic and pushed the shield outward, he grabbed her mind and fled, leaving her body an empty shell, alive, but comatose.  
  
He came back into his own body, and slammed her into the jar he had prepared. She was a rainbow mist, vaguely shaped like her face. HE laughed triumphantly. "At last, you are mine!" The mist condensed into a tiny girl, and she pounded uselessly on the glass, her voice to high to be understood.  
  
He laughed at her feeble efforts, "That's a magic jar! You can't escape until I free you! Put down the shield and I will let you live!"  
  
"Never!" she replied telepathically, I'll never betray my friends!"  
  
He only laughed at her defiance, then ordered a demon to watch her as he orbed over to the Manor.  
  
* * * "Alison! Alison!" Far away, she could hear Alex calling her name, but couldn't reach him. She tried to talk to him telepathically, but the magic jar prevented her. She flung her magic at the jar, but couldn't even make the magic waver.  
  
"She's not coming to, I think she's in a coma," Alex told the others. Wyatt must have done something to her.  
  
I'll check the Book," Chris suggested, orbing upstairs. Then he heard a voice echoing in his mind. "Help me, I'm trapped! Help..." The voice trailed off, but he had no dowght in his mind that it was Alison.  
  
Her ran to the Book and flipped through it frantically, looking for some sort of trap Wyatt could have set.  
  
Downstairs, Maka came running in, looking terrified. "Wyatt's here! He's here!" The others quickly assembled outside, following the procedure they had agreed on, even though Alison was unconscious.  
  
"I have trapped your leader!" Wyatt called out to them, "You are defenseless against me! Give up now, and I will let you live!"  
  
"You will never defeat us," Maka called out, "you will never win!"  
  
"Soon your leader will die, and you will be defenseless! Surrender now or face my wrath!"  
  
Maka wavered. Was what he was saying true? Would they be left defenseless against him?  
  
Chris came to the doorway. "Don't listen to him," he called out, "He's only trying to trick you!" She nodded and ran back inside.  
  
Wyatt stared as he saw his younger brother walk outside. What is he doing here? He's supposed to be in the past!  
  
"He's trapped her soul in a magical jar," Chris explained. All w e have to do is free it."  
  
"Great, we just break into his invincible fortress, find a magically shielded room, and take out a jar that's probably guarded, all without anyone noticing?" she snorted. "Great plan. Look, we tried, we even came pretty close to defeating him. But we've lost now, so give it up.  
  
"Maka!" Chris exclaimed, surprised, "how can you talk like that? The fate of the entire world depends on us defeating him. Don't give up on me now! We can do this!"  
  
Maka took a deep breath. 'Okay, does it say how to get her back? I don't know what Wyatt said about her dying if she's separated from her body for too long ,but we need her back as soon as possible."  
  
What he said was true. If we don't get her back within twenty- four hours, she'll die. And we'll be left defenseless. The only way to get her back is to break the jar."  
  
"How do we do that?"  
  
"Well, we could have someone write a spell, then we could all read it aloud. That much power should be enough to break the protection magic around it. Who's the best spell- writer"  
  
"Well that would probably be Melissa. I'll go get her now."  
  
* * * "Chris! Help me! I'm trapped," Alison called out, hoping she could reach him telepathically. She thought he heard her, but couldn't be sure.  
  
"Be quite," the guard yelled at her, you're not allowed to talk." Alison smile, and talked to him in his mind.  
  
"So you can hear me when I talk with my mind? How cute. I bet that's why Wyatt chose you to guard me."  
  
"I am one of the only demons that can hear telepathy," he announced proudly.  
  
"It's a pretty sucky power though, you couldn't hurt anyone with it. It's just magical eavesdropping. How pathetic." Alison smile, taunting him.  
  
"I have an active power," the demon protested, "I can throw fireballs."  
  
"I bet they're weak fireballs, you could never hurt me with them! You're just apathetic excuse for a demon. You couldn't win a battle against a mortal!"  
  
Stunned by this insult, the angry demon threw a fireball directly at Alison's jar, shattering it. She screamed as a shard imbedded itself in her stomach. Her soul could be hurt when it was out of her body, and she had failed to take that into effect. She hid behind the desk, holding her stomach and trying not to scream. She was dying, and she knew it.  
  
Reviews: WinterBlaze, JadaReen, Meow14, and Samara Morgan Ring: Thank you! ( I will get the next chapter in as soon as I can. Unfortunately, I was sick and now have lots of school work to catch up with, thus less free time. ( But that will hopefully be finished soon. 


	7. To Hope For The Future

Okay, if you are reading this, once you are done, hit that review button, and review! Please?  
  
Chapter 7- To Hope For The Future  
  
About disembodied souls:  
  
They are normally insubstantial, but when special magic is applied to them, their small mass compresses until they are solid, leaving them about three inches tall. They are not made up of flesh and blood, but instead are made of soul matter, which is what makes up our personality and memories.  
  
Alison groaned, staring at the huge piece of glass imbedded in her stomach. The demon was gone, vanquished by the flying glass.  
  
As she watched, silver mist began leaking out around the edges of the wound.  
  
"Oh no you don't," she muttered, and yanked the glass out. Strangely, she felt no pain. Or perhaps not so strange. This was her soul, not her body, that was injured. She felt a longing, an unhappiness inside her.  
  
She tore off a strip of her shirt and jammed it into the hole in her belly. The area around it was becoming to be unfocused, fuzzy. She was fading.  
  
Every minute became a struggle to hold on to consciousness, every breath a fight to live.  
  
Then the struggle became too much, and as the world faded to black, she reached out through the connection of that one tantalizing kiss.  
  
"Alex, help me..."  
  
* * *  
  
San Francisco, 2004  
  
"Chris! Chris, get your butt over here!" Paige called. "Chris! We need you!" There was no reply.  
  
Phoebe and Paige had just been attacked by a demon while shopping for shoes.  
  
"He's not coming, sweetie," Phoebe told her, "Let's just check the book."  
  
"Oh, all right. I really wanted those shoes. Let's see, it was blue, had three horns, and that mark thing on its forehead. See if it says anything about these." Paige handed her one of the thin needles the demon had thrown at them.  
  
Phoebe looked through the Book, searching. "Oh here it is, he's a Lyslor demon, upper level. There's no vanquishing potion, but he can blow up. Looks like we have to get Piper.  
  
"I don't know, she's pregnant, we probably shouldn't disturb her." Paige was worried.  
  
"Well we don't have a choice, that's the only way to vanquish this demon.," Phoebe replied.  
  
Paige sighed. "I guess we don't have a choice then. Chris!" she called again, starting to get worried. "I am going to vanquish his ass!" Where the hell is he?!"  
  
"I'm sure he's busy somewhere," Phoebe said. "Leo!"  
  
Leo appeared in a swirl of blue lights. He smiled at them, "Blessed be."  
  
"Uh-huh," Phoebe said, "Chris is missing and the only way to vanquish a Lyslor demon is for Piper to blow him up. We need to go get her."  
  
"Chris is missing?"  
  
"Yeah, can you sense him?" Leo closed his eyes and reached out with his mind.  
  
"No," he replied, worried, "I don't know where he is, even if he was underground I could sense him, because he's my son. It's like he's vanished completely."  
  
"Maybe he went back to his time. A few weeks ago he made me touch this letter to get a premonition from it. I think it was from the future, he might have gone there."  
  
"You don't have your powers."  
  
"I did then, that was before I lost them."  
  
"If that's the case, we should just continue on without him. He'll come back when he is ready."  
  
"If he comes back at all, that is," Paige muttered pessimistically.  
  
"I'm sure he will," Leo assured her.  
  
The Future  
  
Her soul's in a what?!" Alex exploded.  
  
"A magical jar. The only way to get her out is to break the jar. And the only way to get into the room where the jar is is for one's soul to leave one's body.  
  
"How I break a jar if I'm insubstantial?" Alex demanded.  
  
"Well, disembodied souls can be condensed into solid people, about three inches tall."  
  
"I'll do it!" Alex volunteered.  
  
"No." Chris dismissed the idea immediately. "We don't even know where this room is, and you can't heal."  
  
"I can use the power- switching spell. And I have a connection to her. I should go."  
  
"It would be easier for me to go. I know the inside of Wyatt's fortress better. I can orb out if I get in trouble."  
  
"In soul form I could instantly return to my body if I wanted to. You know that."  
  
"Actually, James should probably go," Maka interrupted. He can heal. You two can't."  
  
"But I could use the power-switching spell," Alex repeated. Besides, I have a connection with her."  
  
"She's my niece, and my responsibility! I should go."  
  
"She's my girlfriend and I won't let anything happen to her!"  
  
"James would be able to heal her, and the power-switching spell takes time!"  
  
"She might not even need healing!"  
  
"What if she does?!"  
  
"I'm the strongest witch other than her, I can protect her the best!"  
  
"She can take care of her self!"  
  
"Not if she's unconscious!"  
  
"If she is she'll need to be healed!!"  
  
"And someone needs to defend her!!"  
  
"Not if James heals her!!"  
  
"She's my niece, and I am going!!"  
  
"Whoa, people, calm down." Veronica, an elder, said to them. "Arguing isn't going to save Alison. No one can go until we find her."  
  
"Okay, let's scry for her. Since she's my niece, we can use my blood."  
  
"That makes sense. Do you have a map of Wyatt's fortress?"  
  
"Yeah, actually, I do. It is magic, so it has even the secret rooms on it." Chris orbed the map onto his hands, along with a crystal. He laid the map out on the table.  
  
Alex grabbed a knife from the kitchen and handed it to Chris, who shivered, the drew the edge along his palm, opening a shallow cut. Blood began to well out. He let a few drops fall onto the crystal, then James healed his cut.  
  
He wrapped the end of the string around the knife, and began swirling it in a circle. Nothing happened.  
  
Alex gasped as he heard a voice within his mind. "Alex, help me!" He grabbed the knife from Chris, and the crystal stuck fast to a tiny room on the map.  
  
"Okay, I'm going now," he said.  
  
Chris saw that there was no point in arguing. "All right, but we have to make the potion to separate a soul from its body without killing the person, and another to shrink the soul. Let's get started. Alex, you have to memorize the power-switching spell. We have a witch to rescue."  
  
"I'll get started on the first potion; can you handle the second, Chris?" Maka said.  
  
"Yeah, sure. Let's go." They ran to the kitchen, and began opening shelves still stocked with herbs. In fact, all the potion-making stuff was still intact, a part of the museum.  
  
Alex sat down next to the Book, (they had brought it downstairs) and began going over the spell in his mind. After what seemed like an eternity, Chris and Maka came back out of the kitchen brandishing potions.  
  
Alex took a deep breath, and lay down next to Alison. Then he grabbed the potions and swallowed them.  
  
There was an eerie silence and his body went limp. Then his soul slowly floated out of his body. It was transparent, and he looked scared.  
  
The second potion took effect, and his soul condensed into a tiny, solid figure, which disappeared with a pop.  
  
When he reappeared, he was in a corner of a giant room, or at least it seemed giant to him, and they were behind a desk.  
  
Alison was lying on the ground, not moving. Her face was pale, and her stomach was almost completely gone. He knelt beside her, and began to talk, praying that this spell would work.  
  
"What's mine is yours.  
  
What's yours is mine.  
  
Let our powers cross the line.  
  
I offer you this gift to share.  
  
Switch our powers through the air."  
  
Glows rose from each of them and switched places. Alex took a deep breath in and laid his hands on her, willing the wound to heal. Nothing happened. She was as still as ever, her chest barely rising and falling.  
  
He started to cry.  
  
Reviews:  
  
WinterBlaze: Thank you! I read your story and reviewed it, it's good. 


	8. Slowly We Learn To Live

Learn to Live  
  
Slowly we learn to live  
  
Quickly we blame and bleed  
  
Deeply we love and feel  
  
Slowly we begin to be  
  
-Kat  
  
Magic School, 2004  
  
Paige and Phoebe orbed into Magic School, looking for Piper. The halls were empty and an eerie silence blanketed the school.  
  
"Piper?" Paige called, "Gideon?" There was no answer. Then an energy ball came hurtling at the sisters. Paige orbed out, and Phoebe dove to the side. There was no one in the hall.  
  
"Where did that come from?" Phoebe gasped, "What's going on?"  
  
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's bad. Something is seriously wrong here." Paige frowned, listening.  
  
"A girl is in distress."  
  
Phoebe guessed this was just another manifestation of Paige's whitelighter powers. "Where?" she asked.  
  
"This way." Paige orbed them into a classroom down the hall. A little girl, maybe three or four, was huddled in the corner, crying.  
  
"Hey sweetie," Paige said, kneeling down beside the child, "I'm Paige. Can you tell me what happened?"  
  
"Demons came. They took my friend, and then everyone just left." She started crying again.  
  
"Do you know where they went?"  
  
"They said something about," she stumbled over the word, "B-be-beetrie-al? I don't know what the word is."  
  
Phoebe and Paige glanced at each other. "Was it betrayal?"  
  
"I- I think so. I want my mommy. I wanna go home."  
  
"Where's your mommy?"  
  
"At home." The girl started sucking he thumb.  
  
"Okay, sweetie, I'm Phoebe. Can you tell me your name?"  
  
"Maka." The child replied, "I'm Maka."  
  
"Pretty name," Paige commented. "Alright, Maka, I need you to concentrate real hard on your home. Can you do that for me?"  
  
"Uh-huh."  
  
Paige reached down and picked the young girl up. "Okay, we are going to orb there."  
  
"Soon I can orb," Maka said. "Mommy says when I'm six. That's only in two years!"  
  
Paige smiled. "That's great. Concentrate real hard on your home, okay?"  
  
"Okey-dokey."  
  
Phoebe held on to Paige's arm, and they vanished in a swirl of blue lights.  
  
Somewhere Underground  
  
Piper woke up inside a metal cage. She had been in this before, and knew instinctively that the only way to escape was for her to do a Power of Three spell with her sisters, and they weren't here.  
  
She saw Wyatt, unconscious in another cage, and started to cry. She had hoped he would have orbed up there. She paused, frowning.  
  
He had orbed out, she remembered. She had seen him disappear. How had he been captured? Then it hit her.  
  
Gideon!  
  
He had betrayed them, but why? He was an elder, why would he try to murder an innocent child?  
  
She knew that Wyatt was safe within his shield for now, but sooner or later Gideon would figure out a way to kill him, Piper knew.  
  
Up There  
  
Whitelighters rushed around, talking furiously. The whole place was in an uproar. Leo hurried through the crowd to the Council chamber.  
  
How could he do this? I thought he was my friend! Leo didn't know how to deal with this betrayal. What kind of beast would try to kill an infant? The facts just didn't add up. He's an elder!  
  
He pushed the double doors open and stormed into the room, his composure gone. The rest of the Council was already there. Gideon was conspicuously missing.  
  
"Leo! How nice of you to join us."  
  
"I was trying to find my son, dammit!"  
  
The other elders were shocked at this outburst.  
  
"Leo, please calm down. We need to understand exactly what happened before we do anything rash."  
  
"What happened was Gideon betrayed us. He tried to kill my son and kidnapped my wife. He worked with demons. What more is there to know?!"  
  
"Well, for instance, why he did this. We can't ask him, but Sigmund will speak in his place."  
  
"He was in on this too?" Leo took a deep breath to calm himself and sat down.  
  
"Sigmund, what do you have to say for yourself?"  
  
"Well, Gideon came to me and asked me to help him. He said we had to sacrifice Wyatt for the greater good."  
  
"Why, exactly, is that necessary?"  
  
"Because the child has too much power. You all know what happened when he orbed that dragon into San Francisco."  
  
"Whatever his good intentions, the end does not justify the means. He should have come to us instead of making deals with demons."  
  
"You wouldn't have done anything!"  
  
"We could have bound the child's powers before things got out of hand like this."  
  
Sigmund frowned. He was right, Wyatt's powers should have been bound. Why had Gideon insisted on killing the boy?  
  
"Now both Wyatt and his mother are missing. Gideon is responsible, and he will pay the price of having his powers stripped and his soul sent back to earth for recycling."  
  
Sigmund said nothing, hoping he would get off easy.  
  
"And as for you, Sigmund, you are equally guilty. You will pay the same price.  
  
His face fell. Surely there was some loophole, some way out? True, the punishment was not as bad as some, but to lose his identity, be a mortal- he didn't know if he could handle that. "Your honor, please-"  
  
"It has already been decided," he was interrupted. "Your fate is sealed."  
  
Maka's Home  
  
They orbed outside a well kept, if small, house. It was painted white with pretty yellow trim. It was the sort of quaint home everyone dreamed of.  
  
Looking outside, they saw that the house was situated at the end of a long dirt road, in the England countryside.  
  
"Wow," Paige said, "We're in England." She set the child down, and stared around her. This place was amazing.  
  
Maka ran inside, screaming, "Mommy! Mommy, I'm home! Mommy?"  
  
A pretty woman with long wavy red hair came to the door, looking relieved. "Oh. Sweetie, I was so worried something had happened, thank goodness you're okay!"  
  
"Hi, I'm Paige Matthews, and this is my sister, Phoebe Halliwell. It's a pleasure to meet you."  
  
"Halliwell- you're the Charmed Ones?"  
  
Paige shrugged. "Yeah. That's us."  
  
"Thank you so much for saving my daughter! I mean after all that happened at the school, I was worried..."  
  
"Yeah, about that," Phoebe said, "we don't really know what happened, so if you could tell us what you know, that'd be great."  
  
"Of course, come on in."  
  
They walked into the house, and sat down on the wicker furniture. Maka's mothere brought out some tea.  
  
"Well," she told them, "I don't know that much, but from what I can tell, Gideon betrayed us."  
  
Phoebe and Paige stared at her in shock. "Gideon? Are you sure?"  
  
"Yes, apparently, he tried to kill Piper Halliwell's son, Wyatt. Both of them are missing." 


	9. Quickly We Blame and Bleed

We Blame and Bleed  
5/6/2004  
  
Okay, here it is, the update you've been asking for. Sorry it's so short, I will write more as soon as I can. Please review!  
  
Slowly we learn to live  
  
Quickly we blame and bleed  
  
Deeply we love and feel  
  
Slowly we begin to be  
  
-Kat  
  
::Flashback::  
  
Wyatt stood in front of his mother, fidgeting uncomfortably.  
  
"Is something wrong, Wyatt?" Piper asked, looking worried.  
  
"Well, promise me you won't get mad."  
  
Piper began to frown. Wyatt had been acting strange lately, ever since he turned fifteen. Maybe now he would tell her why. "What is it?"  
  
"You have to promise."  
  
She almost laughed, "Okay, I promise."  
  
"Lilith's pregnant."  
  
"Oh no. Oh no oh no oh no." True to her promise, Piper did not get mad. She knew that Lilith and Wyatt were dating, but she thought that Lilith went to the local high school, she had no idea she was a demon. "Well, you're going to have to tell her about magic, because she'll be carrying a magical baby, she won't know what's happening-"  
  
"Mom." Wyatt interrupted her, "She knows."  
  
"Oh good. Wait a second, you told her about magic without telling me? We could have been exposed, you could have- Wyatt, why can't you be more like Chris?"  
  
"Because I don't want to be like Chris. Beside, Lilith won't tell."  
  
"How do you know?"  
  
"I just do."  
  
"But how will she be able to control the baby's powers?"  
  
"I'll bind them until the baby's born.  
  
Piper sighed. At least he had thought everything through. But he and Lilith can't raise a baby, they're still kids themselves, she thought. She didn't know how wrong she was.  
  
AS the time passed, Wyatt became crueler, more evil. By the time the child was due, he was prepared to take over San Francisco, and to kill thousands- including his own mother.  
  
Piper was preparing dinner for the family when the phone rang. She answered it, "Hello?"  
  
"Hi mom, it's me, Wyatt. I just thought you should know I'm not going to be there for dinner. Lilith's in labor."  
  
"Oh sweetie, I'll tell your father, we canal head over to the hospital-"  
  
"No," he replied harshly, "Just have your dinner." Then he hung up, leaving Piper staring at the phone inn shock. Wyatt was becoming so cold, so distant lately. She wondered what he did when he wasn't home.  
  
It was at that moment that Leo orbed in.  
  
"Oh you're here! Chris has been so exited about you coming."  
  
"Well, actually, I can't stay. A prophecy about a great source of power coming into the world is going to come true tomorrow."  
  
"Oh, Chris is going to be so disappointed. I wish you had time for him, you know how much he wants to spend time with you. Soon, you'll realize that there isn't any time left."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
"Only that you should pay more attention to your son, because he'll be grown up before you know it."  
  
"This is really important."  
  
"Well, you know, Wyatt's girlfriend is in labor. Maybe their baby is this great source of power."  
  
"Maybe."  
  
Three months later  
  
The sound of Alison's cries jolted Lilith from her sleep. She jumped out of bed to face the demon that had just materialized. Instead of fighting, she grabbed the child and shimmered to the Manor.  
  
"Lilith, what are you doing here?" Piper asked,  
  
"A demon attacked us, and the baby just orbed us over here," she lied. "Can we stay here tonight, in case another one comes?"  
  
"Sure. Our home is always open to you."  
  
Lilith smiled gratefully. "Thank you."  
  
"But where's Wyatt? Shouldn't he be able to protect you?" Lilith and Wyatt lived in an apartment they had told Piper was right next to Lilith's parents' house. They had even gotten a couple of demons to pretend to be them.  
  
"Well he's just gone so much lately."  
  
Piper frowned. He should be taking better care of her. "Oh, I see. Well, you're welcome to stay here as long as you like. You can sleep in Wyatt's old room." Lilith nodded, and walked upstairs.  
  
Wyatt faced a room full of demons. "We can do this! We can defeat the Charmed Ones and take power for ourselves!" He called out to them. "Now are you with me?"  
  
"Yeah!" the demons shouted. Wyatt smiled. Everything was going according to the plan. Soon, he would have all the power he ever wanted.  
  
"Okay," he said to them, "Here's the plan." He detailed the complicated scheme to destroy the Charmed Ones. It played upon their weaknesses and avoided their strengths. They would never see it coming.  
  
Reviews:  
  
Winter Blaze: I will have more set in the future soon, don't worry, Alison's time isn't up yet, I do have a few tricks up my sleeve, that could save her- or doom her. 


	10. Deeply We Love and Feel

Deeply We Love and Feel  
  
Wow, Chapter 10! Considering most of my stories never make it past page five, that's a pretty big accomplishment for me! Keep those reviews coming!  
  
Slowly we learn to live  
  
Quickly we blame and bleed  
  
Deeply we love and feel  
  
Slowly we begin to be  
  
-Kat  
  
Alex's tears flowed down his cheeks, bouncing off of his hands. "Oh Alison it was never supposed to be this way."  
  
He tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear. "Alison, I-" he took a deep breath, "I love you." As he sobbed, his hands began to glow with a magical healing light. He barely dared smile for fear it would disappear.  
  
He put his hands over the wound in her belly, and it began to heal. The gaping hole filled in, and she opened her eyes.  
  
"Alex?"  
  
"Yes, it's me."  
  
She sat up with some difficulty. "I love you too." She kissed him, hard, pulling him down on top of her. She ran her fingers through his hair, losing herself in the ecstasy of the moment. Finally they broke the kiss, and Alison smiled at him.  
  
"Let's go home." He said. She nodded numbly, and they disappeared.  
  
San Francisco, 2004.  
  
Phoebe was sitting in front of her computer, typing up her column. She knew it was getting late, but she only had one more letter left. She tried to think of what to say, when she heard a voice inside her head.  
  
"Aunt Phoebe? It's Wyatt. I really need to talk with you." As usual, she could sense nothing from him, but he sounded worried.  
  
"Okay, I'll be right there," she told him.  
  
"No, I need to talk to you now." She could hear panic in his voice. She sighed and rolled her eyes, then got up from her desk and walked outside. She shivered- the air was far colder than it should have been.  
  
Wyatt stood in front of her, flanked by two demons. Suddenly Phoebe felt herself immobilized. She tried to call for Leo, but he didn't answer.  
  
She realized that she could not breathe. Her throat was constricting, not letting air pass. He was strangling her with telekinesis. Phoebe knew that she couldn't get out of this.  
  
She saw the world swim in front of her face. And then there was nothing but blackness.  
  
Paige was walking home from P3, a little bit drunk. She was trying to call Phoebe on her cell phone, but she wasn't answering.  
  
She felt a spell descend over her. She tried to orb, but found that she couldn't. A ring of about ten demons surrounded her. "Leo!" she screamed, "Leo, help me!"  
  
Her desperate cries were met with cruel laughter. As she watched in horror, Wyatt stepped out from behind his demon bodyguards. He looked at her with cruel, hard, eyes.  
  
"Why?" she asked, knowing she was going to die.  
  
"Because you're in the way," he told her, and threw a fireball at her.  
  
She screamed as she was engulfed in flames, and then the fire disappeared, as easily as it had appeared. There was nothing left on the ground but a scorch mark and a bit of ash.  
  
Piper screamed as she was enveloped in a shimmering blue force shield. She tried to call for Leo, but knew her cries could not make it through the barrier. She saw Wyatt standing in front of her, his face expressionless.  
  
"Why?" she asked, crying. She knew that he was going to kill her. "Why are you evil?"  
  
He only laughed. "There is no good or evil. There is only power. And whoever has the most power wins..."  
  
She was horrified. What had happened to her son, to make him so cruel? How could he say such things?  
  
Piper panicked as she realized there was no air left. She slowly sank to the ground, begging him to let her live. He only looked on, stony-faced.  
  
She was left with the realization that she had failed as a mother, as the world slowly faded to black.  
  
Lilith shimmered down as soon as she heard the screams. She was just in time to see Piper die. Alison started to cry, as if she knew what was going on.  
  
To her surprise, Lilith felt a pang of sadness at Piper's death. The woman had been kind to her, had helped her.  
  
She's just a witch, Lilith thought to herself, why do I care what happens to her? The answer was easy. Because she's my friend. This realization rocked her to the very core. She was supposed to be evil. What was wrong with her?  
  
She shook those traitorous feelings off her and smiled at Wyatt. "About time," she gave a little laugh. "You should have done that months ago." But what she really felt was different.  
  
Alison, at a scant three months old, seemed to understand exactly what was happening. Her eyes were solemn, and a little bit angry. Wyatt smiled at her, but he could see the promise in her infant's eyes.  
  
I will kill you those eyes said.  
  
"Go!" Wyatt said angrily. "I don't want to see you again." Then he grabbed a potion from the shelf that was labeled, "Binding Potion" and poured it over the baby's head. She instantly started to cry.  
  
"Why did you do that?" Lilith was confused.  
  
"I said go, and never come back!"  
  
Lilith's eyes widened, and she shimmered out, clutching the child tight. 


	11. Slowly We Begin To Be

**Chapter 11: Slowly We Begin to Be**  
  
Okay, I'm trying something different for this one, it's a peek into Alison's mind, about Wyatt (her father) I will do a few more like this if I get good reviews. Please tell me if you like it or not.  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own charmed or the poem "Well, So Do I"  
  
_Slowly we learn to live  
___

_Quickly we blame and bleed  
_

_Deeply we love and feel  
_

_Slowly we begin to be_  
  
-Kat  
  
Reviews:  
  
An elephant named Bob: Thank you!  
  
Winter Blaze: Thank you, I will!  
  
_Did you feel me walking  
  
Around inside your head  
_  
You caught me you tried to kill me you didn't you just killed my soul. I cried I laughed I didn't care can't you see all I want is to be happy. I died I lived if fought I died. I laughed I cried I didn't know why.  
  
_Did you hear the words  
  
I softly whispered there_  
  
I try to forget what you told me I try to focus on the truth. You are evil I know that I still care about you. You told me I was evil, you said that I would fall. I'll prove you wrong even if it kills me. I wont let you win I wont I'll die before I let you. You know that why do you try why does anybody even try at all?  
  
_Do you find it hard to sleep  
  
With me on your mind_  
  
You laughed with me you loved me, you tried to help me you hurt me. You killed me you saved me why can't you care? You thought that I would love you. You thought wrong you were there you were never there for me. Maybe I can save you, save you and destroy me, you should have killed me when you had the chance. Maybe if I try hard enough, I can make it all better. Maybe if I don't give up, I can make the teardrops go away. Dried up by the fiery sun. Gone. Like me. You told me we would rule together. You told me you loved me. Did you care? Or was I just another tool? You never knew, you never cared. You gave me live and took it away. I will fight you I will save you. Why can't I just live?  
  
_ Is the darkness held  
  
With your silent breath,  
_  
You said you'd kill me. I remember your past. I wasn't there but I can see it. Clear as day. You laughed you cried you were innocent. What made you like this? So many ask. But I know. I know why you laughed like that, I know why you cry. They think somebody made you like this they are wrong. They loved you for your power, they didn't love him. You equated power with love, with happiness. But you were discontent. You wanted more, as they all do. You thought more power would make you happy. You were wrong. We were all wrong.  
  
_Do you hold it to your dreams  
  
And slowly breathe it in_  
  
You hurt them to make you happy. But you were never happy. You always wanted what was just beyond your grasp. And when you got it, you wanted more.  
  
_Do you let the shadows play tricks  
  
On the memories behind your closed eyes,  
_  
Did you love me did you hate me? Should I save you should I kill you? Does it matter anymore? Either way you control my life. Make me fight you make me die. I can remember the way you killed her, the way you laughed. Why did you laugh? You say you're not evil but you are. If I save you I'll die, if I fight you you'll die. Why can't you see the truth? I would have been happy you ruined that. Maybe if I cry hard enough you'll see.  
  
_ Do you run from the nightmares  
  
And hold on to the safety of dreams,_  
  
I want you to smile at me I want you to be gone. I want you to be there. A dream of a better place a better time a smile a laugh a teardrop. See how much I fight against you see how much I try? What does it take to run away to that place, the echo of a fantasy? All I want is to be happy. Then I hear you there behind me and it all falls apart.  
  
_Do you rush though the darkness of night  
  
And pray for the light of day_  
  
The specter of my past the light of my future the misery of now. Just go and let me die in peace just leave me all alone. The sadness in that young girl's eyes those eyes should have been full of laughter. My eyes. My life. You took that from me, the happiness, the laughter. Cruel laughter now. I don't want to be the last I don't want to be alone you should be here with me You should pray with me. You should smile with me.  
  
_Do you hate waking up in the mornings  
  
And finding yourself all alone,_  
  
All I want is for you to love me all I want is for you to care. I harden my heart against your cruelty. You should save me I shouldn't have to fight you I love you I hate you I can't live like this. I run from you are everywhere I fight you don't care. I want to be with you again I want you to hold me. Tell me everything's all right tell me that you care. About me. Please.  
  
_Well, so do I._  
  
Do you cry at night? Do you want to know what could have been? Do you ever find the strength to wonder why?  
  
If I cry hard enough, will you love me?  
  
If I try hard enough, will you care?  
  
If I beg you to change, will you kill me?  
  
If I save you, will I die?  
  
Will any of this matter, a thousand years from now?  
  
We are nothing, in the grand scheme of things.  
  
Tiny ants crawling on an tiny planet.  
  
But it matters to us.  
  
So I will fight you.  
  
If I show you what you need, will you listen?  
  
If I change what was, will I change anything?  
  
If I succeed, will it matter?  
  
If I die, will you save me?  
  
If I cry, will you care?  
  
I don't want you to become the hard-hearted monster that tortured children. I don't want you to be corrupted by your power. But if I save you, you'll never meet her. I'll never be born. If I'm never born, how can I save you? But I'm here now. I will save you. And I will disappear.  
  
If I die, will it be better?  
  
If I die, will you live?  
  
If I die, will you be saved?  
  
If I die, will they be alive?  
  
If I die, will the world be saved?  
  
If I die...


	12. When People Change

Chapter 12: When People Change  
  
_When people change so often during the years  
You can't change what was said or done  
Or try and take back those tears _

_Forgive me, for I don't want to remember  
__I can't seem to forget, the memories linger  
That was then, this is now, change me  
Emotions run wild, I can't realize  
What's real and what's your lies_  
  
By: Shanna Diephuis  
  
**San Francisco, 2010**  
  
It was a dark, moonless night, the sort of night where anything can happen. There was an air of foreboding over the city of San Francisco. People stayed inside, afraid of what might be on the streets.  
  
One girl was hurrying home from work. She was barely sixteen, but she worked as a waitress to help support her family. She didn't want to be out this late, but she got paid more for working a double shift.  
  
She quickened her pace, glancing over her shoulder. She saw nothing. She was alone. She could hear her heart beating in her chest. She heard footsteps, and spun around. No one was there.  
  
She breathed a sigh of relief, and turned around to go home. Then she screamed.  
  
Her path was blocked by a huge monster. She turned and started to run.  
  
"Somebody help me! Somebody!" But there was no one to hear her screams. The demon conjured up a fireball, preparing to throw it. The girl pleaded for her life.  
  
"Please don't hurt me, please." But the demon was deaf to her begging. She closed her eyes and prepared to die.  
  
Nothing happened. She opened her eyes and saw that a little boy, maybe seven, had appeared in a swirl of blue lights. He blew the demon up with a flick of his hand, then reached over and gave her a hand up.  
  
"What- how did you do that?" she asked, incredulous.  
  
"I'm Wyatt," he said. "Here, I'll take you home." He took her hand and the vanished, reappearing outside her house.  
  
"But, how?" she asked.  
  
"We'll talk later." He told her, then he orbed out.  
  
Wyatt was so happy. He had just saved his first innocent. His mother came in.  
  
"Where have you been young man? I've been worried sick."  
  
"I saved an innocent!" he announced proudly.  
  
"You what?!! Young man, do you have any idea how much trouble you are in? Going off without telling anyone, fighting demons by yourself-"  
  
"It was only for a minute, and I wasn't in any danger. It was just a lower- level demon, an easy vanquish. Besides, I sensed a girl in danger. I couldn't just let her die."  
  
Piper sighed. She supposed he was right. "Still, you should have told us."  
  
"There wasn't time."  
  
"Oh, all right. Just be more careful next time."  
  
**San Francisco, 2018**  
  
The moon was full and round. He could hear dogs howling to the moon. He laughed, remembering the exhilaration he got from killing that dog. It should be much better with a human being.  
  
He felt like he should be laughing evilly. Of course, he reminded himself, there was no such thing as good or evil. Only power.  
  
Another girl was walking down the street. Another waitress with a poor family and a late job. Another frightened look over her shoulder. She spun around and saw Wyatt.  
  
"Oh, I'm sorry," she said to the fifteen year old. "I wasn't looking where I was going." He didn't move, just stared at her. She started to freak out a bit.  
  
"Excuse me," she said, starting to push by. He moved to block her. Okay, creepy guy.  
  
He reached out with his telekinesis and threw her against a wall. She shakily got up and tried to scream, but he was choking her. She put her hands to her throat, struggling.  
  
She remembered something her sister had once told her about. A demon had attacked her, and she was saved by a child. But there was no one to save Cynthia. She was alone.  
  
Her lungs were burning from lack of air, she could not think, she was dying. Wyatt laughed at her feeble attempts to save herself.  
  
The world in front of her eyes shook, and swam. She reached out, trying to grab some unseen savior. Then the world was black, and her spirit floated toward the light that was heaven, weary with travel. And she was gone.  
  
Wyatt stared at the girl's body. He realized that he didn't even know her name. Her life force was coursing through him, and he threw back his head and laughed.  
  
Then he orbed to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, and conjured an energy ball. He stared at it in surprise. When had he acquired this demonic power? He shrugged, It didn't matter.  
  
He twirled the energy ball on his finger, like a basketball.  
  
Okay, there it is, chapter 12. I hope you like it! Please review!  
  
To Winter Blaze: Thank you. I know, it was hard to write, but it needed to be done.


	13. Change the Past

Chapter 13: Change the Past  
  
The pain filled tears fall down my face  
As I look back on my life  
Sitting here all in black in the third row of hell  
Never in my life would I have thought  
This day would come so soon into being  
But God, it did  
Why did my only and best friend had to go?   
Why me, why now, i thought we were all for one  
I wish I could have at least been signaled  
I loved him not only as a friend but a piece of myself  
But I can't change the past  
If only he shared his thoughts  
If only I could change the past  
This third row is hurting me  
The black is straining my eyes  
The sun upon your pale, dead face makes me cry  
It makes me wonder  
Can I change the past?  
  
By: Allen Kincaid  
  
**Halliwell Manor, 2031**  
  
Alison's face was cold, emotionless. Alex could tell she was cutting herself off from the rest of them. The memory of her mother's death had been brought to the surface of her mind, dug up from where it was buried.  
  
She had been a child when her mother was killed, thrust into the world to fend for herself, in a hostile city. How she had managed, he would never know. But what he did know was that it had aged her far beyond her years.  
  
She was only fourteen, but looked at least seventeen. She had seen things no child should have to face. She had fought them, and she had killed them.  
  
And she had walked away with a heart that turned to stone if anyone got to close to her. She was afraid of losing them, he knew that. She was afraid of being left alone.  
  
"We have been on the defensive too long," she was saying, "We have to fight him."  
  
"But how can we? He's too powerful."  
  
"That's why we're here. We need a plan. I propose that Maka and myself, and some of the strongest witch-whitelighters attack, while Alex and the rest of the witches with active powers, and the whitelighters, stay here just in case."  
  
"Why can't we come too?"  
  
"Because Wyatt might find a way in."  
  
"I thought you said he couldn't get through the barrier."  
  
"He can't. But being Wyatt, he'll figure out a way around that. I need you here in case he does."  
  
"Okay," Alex agreed.  
  
"Where will we attack?"  
  
"That hasn't been decided yet. Chris, you have the best knowledge of how Wyatt works. What would you suggest?"  
  
Wyatt sat on his throne, shaking with anger. The stupid demon was dead, and Alison had escaped. He screamed in rage.  
  
The demons at the entrance to his office shivered in fear. Their worries were well founded- the previous occupants of their position were all dead, destroyed in one of Wyatt's tantrums.  
  
Wyatt couldn't believe that the demon had been so damned idiotic! He had seen the security tapes; he knew how the girl had goaded him into freeing her. He had seen her fall, injured, behind the desk.  
  
He had no idea where she had gone from there. The camera didn't cover that crack. He didn't think she would have been up to any kind on teleportation in that state. So what had happened?  
  
She was no longer there, he knew that for sure. He had had his guards go over the room with a fine-tooth comb, and they had found nothing but pieces of shattered glass and the ashes of the demon.  
  
So she's dead. He told himself, but he knew this could not be true. The shield was still up. He frowned. Even if her soul had died, her body could go on living indefinitely, in a coma. Maybe that was what had happened.  
  
He waved a hand and a demon was engulfed in flames. His partner looked terrified, but said nothing, only stood up a little straighter.  
  
Wyatt sighed. "Much better." He loved venting his rage into violent acts. It was like the new anger management.  
  
"Okay, is everyone ready to go?" Alison asked, looking at the strike team. It was made up of fifteen witches and five witch-whitelighters, including herself. They were all armed to the teeth with potions and had memorized various vanquishing spells, keeping others in pieces of paper.  
  
Alex, with about ten witches and ten or so whitelighters, the rest of the Resistance, smiled. "Good luck. You're going to need it."  
  
Alison laughed. "I hope not. Let's go." Each whitelighter had been assigned three witches to orb with. As she spoke, the whole army disappeared in a swirl of blue lights.  
  
Wyatt paced up and down the throne room, thinking. He had to figure out a way into that house! He knew that he couldn't make it through the barrier, but there had to be some other way.  
  
Something he had heard a long time ago echoed in his head. Time is the fourth dimension.  
  
"That's it!" he cried out, startling his guards. A new one had replaced the one he'd killed.  
  
"Assemble a team of fifty upper level demons!" He called out to his attendant. "Have them here in five minutes."  
  
"Yes sir," the startled demon bowed, then telepathically contacted the demons. They began shimmering in immediately.  
  
Wyatt used his telekinesis to draw an enormous triquatra on the wall with some chalk he orbed in.  
  
He stood up and cleared his throat, and the milling demons instantly silenced. "We will be attacking the Rebels currently occupying Halliwell Museum. We will travel back in time one week to avoid the force shield, then once we are inside the area it will occupy, we will travel back to the present and attack. Any questions?" Of course there were none.  
  
He began to speak, his voice full of power and evil.  
  
"Hear these words, hear the rhyme, Heed the hope within my mind Send me now where I will find What I wish in place and time."  
  
The great triquatra glowed a dark blue flecked with black. It was the color of good magic tainted by evil. "Go in!" Wyatt called out, and the mass of demons slowly trudged through it.  
  
They arrived just outside the Museum, about a day before Alison was due to arrive. The tour guide was stunned. "Milord, what-?"  
  
He cut her off. "We are merely passing through; you can resume the tours once we are gone."  
  
She nodded confused. She knew all to well what happened to people who asked questions.  
  
He repeated the spell, and the army walked through it, emerging inside the Museum. Delia, a young whitelighter, barely had time to scream before they were on her. She was wreathed in flames from a dozen fireballs, and nothing was left but ash.  
  
The others heard her scream and came running in, quickly falling into a shaky formation, with the witches at the front, whitelighters behind them wielding potions.  
  
They were strong, but there were fifty demons, plus Wyatt, and they were already down one.  
  
The whitelighters threw the potions, and witches recited spells and used their active powers, sometimes both at the same time.  
  
A fireball caught James in the stomach, and an older witch named Agnes was killed by an energy ball. They fought well, but they were dying. Worse, they knew it. The whitelighters had run out of potion, and were being decimated by the demons. There were maybe three left, orbing to avoid being hit.  
  
Another two witches died in flames, and Alex glanced around in terror. How had he gotten in? How could this be happening?  
  
Another two whitelighters were down; apparently a darklighter had made it to the front line and was firing. And then the last one fell with an arrow in his shoulder.  
  
Heather, a witch with the power of pyrokinesis, was in the middle of setting a half dozen demons on fire when an athame caught her in the back. She fell with a look of surprise and confusion on her face. Alex cried out in anger. She was his sister.  
  
Then all of a sudden the last witch was covered in flames, and Alex found himself alone. This isn't how it's supposed to be, he thought, we're not supposed to die. It's supposed to work out like a story. We should be living happily ever after.  
  
But this was no story, this was real life, and Alex was alone against the ten or so demons left, and Wyatt himself. If Alison was here, they might have had a chance. But she wasn't. It seemed that her greatest fear was about to be realized.  
  
He put his chin up, determined not to go out without a fight. He set two of the remaining demons on fire, reducing them to ash. He felt an energy ball graze his shoulder, leaving his whole left arm burnt and useless.  
  
He tried not to scream in pain. He was struggling just to keep his consciousness. Alison! He cried out through the bond that they shared, help me, Alison! Then an athame imbedded itself in his throat. He put his hands to the wound, and they came away stained with red.  
  
He stared at the blood, unable to believe it was possible. He fell to the ground with a look of utter confusion on his face. His heartbeat slowed. And stopped.  
  
His soul rose out of his body, trying to comprehend what had happened. Then it faded upward, and was gone.  
  
Alison didn't hear the whispered cry for help, as she was finishing off the last demon. She smiled, satisfied with what had happened. They had taken out the demonic council, powerful demons just under Wyatt, and a great deal of their guards.  
  
"Okay, let's go back," she told them. "And good job!" They had lost only one witch, a young man named Conrad. She hoped he would rest in peace.  
  
They all orbed out, elated from their victory, and saddened from the loss of their friend. They couldn't wait to tell the ones back home- for the Manor was their home now- of their victory.  
  
But the scene they orbed into was not what they had been expecting. There was smoke everywhere, and bodies were scattered on the ground.  
  
"Oh, shit," Alison muttered. "Be on the alert!" she called out, "There may be demons still here!"  
  
But her warning came too late. The had already been attacked. Nine witches were dead, ambushed from behind. Then Wyatt orbed in. He smiled.  
  
"Ready to give up, Alison?"  
  
"Never!" she vanquished his demons with a wave of her hand. He countered by killing the rest of the witches, leaving only Chris and Alison.  
  
"Your puny little Resistance is dead, Alison. You will soon follow them. Give up now, and your death will be quick."  
  
She only laughed. She was trying not to cry, not to scream in anger and grief. "You're forgetting one thing. I'm more powerful than you." This actually was not true, they had the same amount of power, but the bluff worked.  
  
Wyatt narrowed his eyes. "You haven't won yet, my daughter. Where will you stay, knowing I can attack you at any time? You cannot fight me."  
  
What he was saying was true, but she was not one to give up. She raised her head high and spit out, "Watch me." Then she orbed out with Chris.  
  
Wyatt thought that they were leaving, but they really only went to the attic. "We will change the past," she told him, "we will make it better."  
  
She waved a hand, and a triquatra appeared on the wall. She began to speak, tears rolling down her face. She could not get the sight of Alex's dead body out of her head. How could this have happened?  
  
"Hear these words, hear the rhyme," she began, her hair streaming out behind her. The smell of burnt flesh was thick in the air, and she was struggling not to vomit.  
  
"Heed the hope within my mind," her voice was filled with anger, with grief, with hate. Her eyes were cold and hard, her gaze stony and determined.  
  
"Send me now where I will find," tears were streaming down her face, obscuring her vision.  
  
"What I wish in place and time!" Wyatt heard her chanting and orbed in, just in time to see her disappear into the wall with Chris. Her lunged toward the portal, but if was gone. They were gone.

**San Francisco, 2004**

Alison and Chris appeared in the attic of a time long past, for them at least. Alison curled up in a fetal position. "They're dead, they're dead, i got them killed, this is all my fault." she whispered, crying.

"It's okay," Chris told her, "We'll change the past so they don't have to die." She nodded numbly, and fell asleep. Chris orbed her to Piper's room, because she wasn't there.

Then he called out to Paige, and she and Phoebe orbed in. "Piper and Wyatt have been kidnapped," Paige told him, "Where the have you been ?" "Shh," he told them, "she's sleeping. I'll tell you everything."  
  
Reviews: Khayla: thanks, and I will keep reviewing you fic!

Winter blaze: I reviewed your dtory, and here is the update

Magicgrrl:I will! Thanx!

Lil-whitelighter111488: thank you, I will!


	14. The Path of Life

Chapter 14: Walk the Path of Life  
  
Okay, this is just my prediction: After what happened to Chris last night, there will be about a kazillion fanfics where he doesn't die. Will I too, jump on the bandwagon? You'll have to read to see! I mean, how could they do this to him? Evil murdering monsters! He was like my favorite character! And so damn hot! Oh Chris, why did you have to die? Honestly, i hope you feel the same about Alex. I didn't want to kill him, but i had to. I guess that helps me understand about Chris. I still want him back, though.

_You just want to rewind your life to the last time he was there,  
To give him a hug and a kiss and tell him how much you cared.  
To comfort his family and say that everything will be all right.  
When you are the one who cries yourself to sleep every single night.  
To walk to the place where he was killed and just sit down and cry.  
To wonder to the Lord why he was the one who died.  
To sit next to his casket and hold his hand and pray.  
To give him a kiss on his cheek as tears scroll down my face.  
No one can ever take his place; it wasn't his turn to die.  
But it's something I can't turn my back on; it's something I can never do.  
We'll think of him everyday. He was loved oh so much.  
He'll never know how many lives that he has gently touched.  
He'll always be with us as we walk the path of life.  
Even though every step won't always be precise.  
His soul will always be with us.   
His memory will always go on.  
He will be loved everyday even though his body's gone.  
-Hillary Tamburello_

I'm not sure how qualified I am to write this, as I have never lost someone truly close to me, but I will do my best.

Alison was sobbing, curled up on her bed. He couldn't be gone, he couldn't. How could this have happened? There had to be some way to save him, to change what had happened.

Wyatt will pay for this, she thought. I will make him pay. It would be so easy to find that baby, to kill him, to stop all of this from happening.

But she knew that to do that would be to create a paradox. If I kill my father before he meets my mother, I will never be born. If I'm never born, I can't kill my father. If I don't kill my father, I will be born. It was a paradox people had wondered over for many years.

And Alison knew how it turned out. My being alive proves that I did not kill my father in this time, that neither I, nor anybody else, swayed him from his path of evil. So the only way to win would be to go back to her time. That would be better anyways.

Meddling with the past was risky stuff. There was a good chance the result would be worse than whatever you were trying to fix. But if she didn't change the past, how could she save Alex?

Alex- the thought brought a lump to her throat. It reminded her of the hole in her chest where her heart should be. Where he should be. Maybe I could just change it a little. Find a way to seal the Manor from time travel. Like put up my barrier not only in space, but in time as well.

_Maybe I could save him. Or maybe I will end up killing myself_, she thought, _along with everyone else. Oh, like that would be so bad? At least then I would be with Alex. At least then I wouldn't be in this pain. _

_Don't think like that, she told herself; they are depending on you to save them. You have to pull through. You have to survive this and fight him. Yes, and kill him. To hell with that chance he could be turned back to their side. Evil was evil, so matter his parents. Power corrupts_.

That got her thinking. She had the same amount of power that he did, what was there to stop her from turning as evil as him? _Just listen to your heart and do what you think is right._ The words came unbidden from the depths of her memory, said by her mother so long ago.

All she had to do was remember that. Or was it? The line between good and evil was thin, she knew, but once you crossed it it was so hard to turn back. How would she now when to stop?

More importantly, how would this limit affect he fight with Wyatt? If he could do whatever he wanted, kill whomever he wanted, and she was limited like this, how would she fight him?

He would have an advantage she could not afford to take. I'm fighting to avenge my friends, to make the world right again. She had heard that despite mortal's notorious ability to ignore magic, the rest of the world had figured out what was going on.

People came from all over the country to see if the stories were true, and few of them left. She had heard that the US government was considering napalm or an atom bomb to get rid of the threat.

Of course, all that would do would kill all the humans, as the demons would simply shimmer to the underworld and Wyatt had his shield. Then they would take over another city and everyone would be back to square one, except tons of people would be dead.

Dead. Like Alex. How could Wyatt be allowed to do this? He should be the one who is dead, for doing this to her. She could hear her rage building. Maybe if they bound baby Wyatt's powers, or better, stripped them. Bound powers can always be unbound, but if we removed his witch powers...

They could leave him with his whitelighter powers- healing, orbing, and his force shield- so that he could protect himself, but take away all his powers that could be used to hurt others.

But he met my mother in the underworld! If he never becomes evil, how will I be conceived? She lifted her chin. If I must die, then so be it, she thought. Better me than thousands of innocents. Better me than- the name still brought tears to her eyes- than Alex.

She realized that she was shaking. How could he do this to her? How could he dare cause her this much pain? Didn't he know what she would do? Was he so sure of himself that he could not see she was as powerful as he was?

She would kill him for this, she would destroy him. Her hands formed into fists and her teeth clenched, as she tried not to scream in anger, fear, in grief. _How could you leave me like this?_ She silently asked Alex.

_Why wasn't I there? I should have been there, I should have saved you. I should have known he would do this. How could I leave you like that? I knew you weren't powerful enough to face him. I'm the only one who is. You'll never know how many times I wish this burden had fallen on anybody but me..._

**Downstairs**

"Wait, who is sleeping?" Phoebe asked.

"Alison. She's Wyatt's daughter from the future. She's kinda going through a bad time right now."

"Oh?"

"A lot of people died. She feels responsible, even though it wasn't her fault."

"So who's fault was it?"

"Well no ones fault really, I mean Wyatt was the one who killed them, but he's evil, so..."

"I thought we saved him." Chris shrugged.

Then the ground began to shake. Paige screamed. The earthquake was over as quickly as it began.

"Okay, what was that about?" Paige asked.

"I'll check the book" Chris announced.

"It was just an earthquake, it doesn't have to be supernatural," Phoebe said.

"But it could be."

When Chris got upstairs, he saw that Alison was already there, sitting cross-legged on the floor with the book in front of her. She was sitting in a circle of candles, and various herbs surrounded her. She was chanting a spell, as tears streamed down her face. __

_"Power of the witches rise,  
Course unseen across the skies  
Come to us who call you near,  
Come to us and settle here."_

When nothing happened, she tried another one.

_"Blood to blood I summon thee,  
Blood to Blood return to me."_

She drew a knife across her palm, letting the blood drip into a bowl. Nothing happened. She stood up and orbed candles into a circle then lit them. She began to speak.

"Hear these words, hear my cry.  
Spirit from the other side.  
I come to me, I summon thee  
Cross now the great divide."

Again, nothing happened. The air was still. She collapsed to the ground and started to cry in earnest. Another earthquake rocked the manor.

"That wont work," Chris said from the doorway. "There's no way to bring back the dead." She sighed,

"I know. I had to try, though. You know that."

"Yeah." He had tried every spell in the book, and many that weren't, to try to bring back his mother after Wyatt killed her.

"So did you cause these earthquakes?"

"No, that must be something else." Yet another earthquake came, this one way worse than the other two. There was a crash from downstairs.

Alison held her hands over the Book and the pages turned, coming to rest on one she's never seen before. She scanned the writing, her face growing worried.

"Apparently we screwed up destiny or something." She looked annoyed.

"You mean when I came back to save Wyatt?"

"No, you were allowed to do that, it's when I brought you back from the past, that messed it up."

"Is there a way to fix it?" "Yeah, there's a spell."

**The Underworld**

Piper watched helplessly as Gideon cut through Wyatt's force shield with a knife. She was prepared to see her son die, but she wasn't prepared for what happened next.

Wyatt used his magic to stab Gideon with the knife, and he screamed in pain, then orbed out. Piper suddenly realized that this was how Wyatt turned evil.

He had to defend himself against Gideon, for god knows how long. She started to cry.

**Halliwell Manor**

Alison studied the spell, frowning. "I think this will work," she tod him. "It sounds a bit risky, though."

"What does it do?"

"It sets everything back the way it should be, as if I'd never pulled you from the past, only it doesn't actually undo it. It only transports you to that exact mement."

"So everything we did in the future..."

"Will still have happened, but nothing in this time since you left."

"Do it."

"Are you sure?"

"Do we have a choice? The world will shake itself apart if we don't."

"Okay, shouldn't we ask the sisters?"

"No, they wont even remember it."

"All right." She began to read the spell. When she was done, she realized that she had forgotten to figure out where she would be. Oh well.

The world shook again, and everything was right again. Alison found herself in her old hideout, a bubble of air in the San Francisco Bay. That was odd; she'd created that, many years in the future.

She tried to orb out, but couldn't. She couldn't shimmer either. How annoying. Maybe this was the spell's way of stopping her form further screwing up the way things were supposed to be.

Inside the bubble were a bed, a kitchen well-stocked with food, and a television. She turned to look at the TV, and it turned on, showing a picture of Magic School. Paige and Gideon were there, working on a spell.

She watched in horror as Gideon plotted to kill Wyatt with his evil mirror self. She had to get a message out, she had to warn them. But she couldn't.

So she stayed, and found that when she changed the channel, it went to a different location. She watched the entire scene play out, up until thepoint when Gideon took Wyatt.

"Chris!" she screamed, seeing him get stabbed. "No!" She fought harder against the bonds that stopped her from leaving this magical place, but couldn't move.

Then Leo orbed in, and she reaxed. "He'll be able to heal him," she told herself. But he couldn't. Alison watched the SWAT guys come, and go.

Then she realized that no one was going to save Chris. Leo knelt beside Chris, crying, pleading with him to hold on. But it was no use.

Chris was going to die, and there was nothing anyone could do to save him.

**Reviews:**

Winter Blaze: See below. If he does come back, it wont be for a while. I'm not making any promises...

lil-whitelighter111488: Yes, he did have to die, it's crucial to Alison's mindset.

**Authors note**: this is my way of making everything fit in with last night's episode, again, I hate them for killing Chris! I hate Gideon for killing him! Okay, I'll stop yelling now. There's always reruns. Sigh. Just a question- it i resurrect ALex, will they bring back Chris?

Please Review! Thanx!


	15. Save You

Chapter 15: Save You

_The wind was all blowing, and I stood all soft and still.  
I whispered to myself, I told me how I will.  
I will save the world one day, I promise I will, to you.  
I will save the world tomorrow. Tomorrow, I'll save you, too.  
by G. K. 'Kat' Bird._  
  
_I'll fly my flag right-side down  
I'll blow smoke into the sky  
I'll spend my life  
lighting up the night  
Come for me  
Run to me  
Stay with me  
We'll leave this place  
Come find me here  
I'm dying here  
Save me and I'll save you_

Alison watched as Chris struggled to hold onto his life. If only there was some way to save him without messing up destiny!  
  
Wait a second, she thought, grasping at straws, maybe Chris doesn't have to die. Maybe they only have to think that he dies.  
  
She frantically looked around for something to save Chris. Of course! The spells she had used earlier. She still remembered the blood-to-blood spell. But she had no knife, no way to spill the blood necessary for the spell.  
  
She saw that Chris was about to die. She had no choice. She shoved her hand into her mouth, and used her tooth to rip open the scabbed-over cut.  
  
Blood poured of the wound. She could taste the coppery tang in her mouth. She held her hand over the bed, and the blood welled out.  
  
"Blood to Blood I summon thee Blood to Blood return to me."  
  
She repeated the spell, over and over, growing dizzy with blood loss. Finally Chris appeared in front of her, fading into view. She lay her bloody hands on his chest.  
  
The glow emanating from her hands did nothing. Only Gideon could heal him. Or at least that's what he thinks!  
  
Sometimes pure power can do what experience cannot, she thought, and pushed with her mind, lifting the spell and healing him.  
  
The world swam in and out of focus before her eyes. There was so much blood. She realized that she was bleeding, not just from her hand, but from a half-dozen nasty cuts all over her body, maybe side effects of lifting such a powerful spell.  
  
She felt herself lose consciousness, but before she did, she said one last thing to Chris. "They can't know you're alive. Promise me you wont let them find out."  
  
The newly healed Chris nodded. "I promise. But Alison-"  
  
She was out cold, and her pulse was dropping. He had to do something. But what could he? She was like his little sister; he couldn't just sit back and let her die. But he had promised, and any whitelighter would eventually get word back that Chris was alive.  
  
He took her in his arms and orbed to Halliwell Manor, then left her on the couch. He just hoped that someone would find her soon. Then he turned invisible and waited, but no one came.  
  
I guess I have to do this myself, he thought, and orbed to Piper at the hospital, grabbed her arm, and orbed to the Manor with her, still invisible.  
  
She looked around in surprise. "Okay, who did that?" She had felt the hand grabbing her arm.  
  
Then she saw the girl on the couch and ran to her. "Leo! Leo!"  
  
He orbed in, looking angry, an unusual trait in a whitelighter. "What is it?"  
  
Now she could hear the pain in his voice, at losing Chris, at not being able to keep his promise.  
  
"Heal her!"  
  
"Who is she?" Leo asked, moving towards her.  
  
"I don't know, something orbed me here and she was just lying there. Heal her, she going to die!"  
  
He put his hands over one of her wounds, and healed her with some difficulty. When he was done, the girl opened her eyes. "Chris?" she asked fuzzily.  
  
"No, it's Leo." The girl knew Chris?  
  
"Oh. I have to go now." Alison jumped off the couch, smiling a little too brightly. "Okay, I have to go now. Thanks for, like saving my life and all. Bye." Then her smile faded.  
  
Leo studied her carefully. She had his eyes. Chris's eyes. Wyatt's eyes. Now that he thought about it, he realized that she had the same blonde hair as the future Wyatt that Barbus had shown him.  
  
She had Phoebe's heart, Paige's fire, Piper's determination. Her face was her mother's, so he didn't recognize it, but the girl was obviously a Halliwell.  
  
Probably from the future, probably my granddaughter. Wyatt's daughter.  
  
"You're Wyatt's daughter," he said. It was a statement, not a question. She nodded. He noticed that she was crying.  
  
"What's wrong?"  
  
She shook her head. "Nothing." Then she orbed out.

lil-whitelighter: sorry.


	16. The Echo of a Teardrop

**Chapter 16: Echo of a Teardrop**  
  
_ Loneliness  
One lonely footprint in a field  
of freshly fallen snow.  
An echo of a teardrop as it falls  
on the ashes of an unkept fire..  
The beauty of an sunset viewed  
by a sole pair of sullen eyes..  
The anger aroused by the joy  
of a noisy playground...  
The nagging fear brought on  
by an act of friendship  
of a passing stranger..  
Look in the mirror my friend  
and see a lonely soul.  
By anonymous  
_

**The Manor**  
  
"We should get you back to the hospital before someone notices you're gone," Leo told her. "I'll get Phoebe or Paige to check this girl out."  
  
"Well, she wont be in the Book, if she's from the future."  
  
"You still have to go back."  
  
"Okay." Leo orbed with Piper into the bathroom adjacent to her room. Luckily, no one had noticed that she was gone.  
  
When Leo went to the nursery to check on newborn Chris, he thought he saw someone bending over the child. But he blinked, and no one was there. He frowned. Weird. He had thought for a second that the man was Chris, but Chris was dead...  
  
**The Bubble**  
  
Chris orbed back to the Bubble, and saw Alison standing there, looking annoyed.  
  
"They could have figured out that you were alive! You could have been seen! And now they know who I am. What were you thinking?"  
  
"I was thinking that I had to do something!"  
  
"Or what?"  
  
"Or you would have died! I couldn't let that happen, you know that."  
  
She sighed. "Yeah, I know. It was still risky. Now that they know I'm here, they'll try to find me. And if they figure out that you're alive, we'll be back to square one!"  
  
"Square one of what, exactly?"  
  
"Keeping Wyatt from turning evil!"  
  
"But Leo killed Gideon! He's safe."  
  
"It's not that easy. It wasn't one thing that made him evil. It wasn't one demon that you can vanquish, one blessing you can do. His power corrupted him, nothing more."  
  
"But Gideon-"  
  
"Helped the process along, yes. But he didn't cause it. The only way to save him is to strip his powers."  
  
"What?!! You can't be serious; he would have no way of defending himself."  
  
"Only his witch powers, we could leave him with his orbing, healing, and shield."  
  
"He killed mom with that shield."  
  
Alison sighed heavily. "I know, but we don't have a choice. We just have to hope that he doesn't turn evil at all, without his other powers. If power corrupts, then-"  
  
"We take away his power." Chris got it.  
  
"Yes." She smiled.  
  
"Piper would never allow it."  
  
"Piper doesn't have to know."  
  
"She'll kill you."  
  
"I'll go back to my time."  
  
'Will you still have your powers?"  
  
"Yeah, they'll be like a recessive gene."  
  
"Then let's do it."  
  
**The Manor  
**  
"So something orbed Piper here, and this girl was just lying in the couch? I sounds fishy." Paige said to Leo. "You should have waited to heal her."  
  
"She would have died."  
  
"It was that bad?"  
  
"Yeah, the couch is still covered in her blood."  
  
"We'll never get that out," she muttered. "Wait! We can scry for her with her blood."  
  
"If she's Wyatt's daughter, won't she be too powerful for us?" Leo was worried.  
  
"And she could be evil. Don't forget that." Phoebe put in.  
  
"If she's evil, wouldn't she have killed us already?" Paige said.  
  
"Good point." Phoebe shivered.  
  
"So we scry." Paige decided, orbing upstairs to get a map. She brought a map of the world and one of San Francisco, and the scrying crystal.  
  
She took a piece of bloody fabric from the couch and wrapped it around a stick. Then she tied the string around it, and started to swing the crystal over the map of the world.  
  
The crystal immediately stopped over San Francisco. "Oh, good. She's local." Paige was relieved.  
  
She swung the crystal over the map of the city, but frowned at her result, tried again. "Weird," she muttered.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Leo asked.  
  
"This says that she's in the middle of San Francisco Bay."  
  
"Maybe she's on the Golden Gate Bridge," Leo suggested.  
  
"No, she's no even near it.  
  
"A boat?"  
  
"I don't know, maybe we should orb over there and see."  
  
Won't we need a boat?" Paige asked.  
  
"I can float us," Leo replied. "Let's go."  
  
"Already?" Phoebe asked, "Shouldn't we plan or something?"  
  
"We go there, we use my scrying crystal to point directly at this girl, we orb there- it's simple."  
  
"A thousand things could go wrong." Phoebe said.  
  
"But they won't," Paige assured her.  
  
They orbed out, and reappeared on top of the Golden Gate Bridge. Paige swung the crystal around, and the string went tight, pointing to a spot on the water.  
  
"Okay, if I'm not back in a minute, something happened to me." Then Paige orbed out.  
  
**The Bubble**  
  
Alison and Chris were writing and erasing, writing and erasing, trying to come up with a good spell to strip Wyatt's powers.  
  
"What if- no." Chris shook his head, and erased what he had just been working on.  
  
"That's it." Alison raised her hands, and the future Book came crashing down on the table in front of her. Chris jumped.  
  
"What are you doing? If the sisters see that it's gone-" Chris said.  
  
"No, it's the future Book. From my time."  
  
"And how exactly did you get it here?"  
  
Alison blinked in surprise. "I don't know. I just called it, and it came."  
  
"So that's yet another power."  
  
She shrugged, and held her hands over the Book. "Power-stripping potion." She said, and the pages flew, finally coming to rest on a page with instructions for making a potion. She eyed the page.  
  
"It says you have to get the person to drink this, and you have to make up a spell? Well that sucks."  
  
"What's in the potion?"  
  
"Well, some of his blood, plus this stuff." She showed him the page."  
  
"I think I can get that stuff, but what about his blood?"  
  
"I'll handle that. After all, in this time I'm more powerful than he is."  
  
"Okay." Chris orbed out.  
  
When Paige reappeared, she was about twenty feet away from the Bubble. She saw a blue orbs, but luckily never saw Chris. She orbed back to the bridge.  
  
"Did you find anything?" Phoebe asked eagerly.  
  
"Yeah, apparently she's living in a Bubble underwater. I saw two people, one girl, about how you described her, and one person I never saw, I only saw them orb out."  
  
"Can you orb us in there?"  
  
"Sure." They orbed out.  
  
Alison felt the presence of Paige outside the Bubble. "Damn," she muttered, and grabbed the Book, and followed Chris, stopping just long enough to destroy the magic television.  
  
When Paige, Phoebe, and Leo orbed in, they found the Bubble deserted and a mess.  
  
"I guess she knew we were coming," Paige said, disappointed. "Oh, well."  
  
"So we have to scry for her all over again?"  
  
"She'll just orb out again." Leo put in.  
  
"Well, maybe she only sensed me when I orbed in close. Maybe if we catch her by surprise..."  
  
"That should work." They orbed back to the Manor.  
  
Alison orbed into the middle of a magic shop. The owner looked up in surprise, then shrugged.  
  
"Alison, what are you doing?" Chris hissed at her. "You're going to expose us!"  
  
"The Charmed Ones found us," she muttered, "I had to get out before they saw me. Paige missed you by a few seconds, nothing more."  
  
"Wow, that's faster than I would have thought."  
  
"They probably scryed for me with the blood I left on the couch."  
  
"Oh."  
  
"So do you have the stuff?"  
  
"I was just about to get it."  
  
"Okay. Hurry, we need to get Wyatt's blood still."  
  
"How are we going to get past the Charmed Ones?"  
  
"You go invisible, and act ghostly, to distract them. I'll orb in, cut his arm with this knife, and catch the blood in this jar. As soon as that is done, we leave. And if at any point you are in any danger, orb out right away. We can't have you exposed."  
  
"Okay." Chris bought the stuff, and they orbed back to the Bubble, after Alison made sure that the Charmed Ones were gone. Chris mixed the ingredients, while Alison made up a spell.  
  
She sat for a while, then it came to her. She scribbled furiously on a piece of paper, then held it up, looked over it. "This should work." She showed the paper to Chris, who nodded.  
  
"Very good. A variation on the unbinding spell?"  
  
"Yeah." Alison said.  
  
Chris put the potion in a vial, then handed it to her. He faded to invisibility. "Let's go." They orbed out.  
  
"I am finally home," Piper said, holding baby Chris. Wyatt toddled beside her. "No more gross hospital food. Thank god."  
  
There was a hastily made "Welcome Home Piper" banner and a few balloons. Piper smiled. "Oh that's so sweet." Her eyes were still a bit red from crying. The news of Chris's death- on the same day as his birth, no less- had come as a shock to all of them.  
  
They only hoped that they had changed the future enough that Chris wouldn't have to die.  
  
So there they were, in the bittersweet glory of it all, wondering if it would ever end. Not knowing what lay ahead. Afraid of what was to come, but willing to face it with and open heart.  
  
All the balloons popped at the same time, creating a huge noise, like a gunshot. Piper jumped. Stuff began to topple, and to fly around the room. Paige screamed.  
  
In all the commotion, no one noticed when Wyatt disappeared. He reappeared in the attic, immediately putting up his shield. Alison waved her hand and it disappeared. She rushed forward and slid the cool knife blade into his arm.  
  
Blood began to pour out, and she quickly uncapped the potion and spilled a few drops in.  
  
Downstairs, Piper realized that Wyatt was missing. With that instinct that all mothers have, she knew where he was, and ran to the attic. She saw Alison force Wyatt to drink the potion.  
  
If only she hadn't made Leo heal her! But if the girl was Wyatt's daughter- and Piper had no doubt that she was- then why was she doing this?  
  
"Get away form my son!"  
  
When Alison heard Piper, she didn't even bother replying, she only put up her shield around herself and Wyatt. Piper uselessly used her power of explosion over, and over, and over.  
  
Alison took out the spell, and began to read. She was majestic, regal. The one who had given up everything she cared about for this moment.  
  
Beautiful, powerful, lonely. Angry, sad, empty. Desolate, pure, perfect. The one who would give her life to do this. To save the world. To save- him.  
  
"**In this night and in this hour**." She spoke in a strong, clear voice, sure of herself, of what she was doing.  
  
"**I strip you of your witchly powers**." Piper beat helplessly against the shield, crying.  
  
**"Never to return to thee."** A whirlwind formed in the attic, and at the canter were Wyatt and Alison. Was he an innocent child that she was saving from himself? Or a cruel and evil murderer who had killed her one true love? Did it matter? Did anything matter?  
  
**"As is my will, so mote it be!"** White orbs flew out of Wyatt, and winked out existence. He was left with only his whitelighter powers, and his force shield. Alison knelt beside him, and helped him to his feet.  
  
"It's okay," she told him. "You'll be okay now."  
  
**Reviews:**  
  
**Winter Blaze:** I will, but the stories almost over. (  
  
**Lilwhitelighter**: Thanks  
  
**Authors note:** okay, that's about it for this story, I will put in an epilogue or, knowing me, a lot of them, just wrapping things up. Another charmed fanfic is in the process of being thought up. I wont give anything away yet, but I should have the first chapter up within a couple of weeks.


	17. Nothing's Wrong

Chapter 17: Nothing's Wrong  
  
If I get enough reviews, maybe four, I will continue this story. If not, then this is the last chapter. So review, please!  
  
Piper stared at Alison with rage, with anger, with fear. "WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MY SON?" she roared.  
  
"I've stripped his powers, so he can't hurt anyone again."  
  
"He never hurt anyone!" Piper's rage, and fear for her son, transformed her into the Goddess of Earth. She pointed at Alison, and a swirling vortex to hell opened up at her feet.  
  
"Oh, shit," Alison muttered. How did this happen? She shouldn't be able to do that.  
  
Alison had underestimated the power of a mother's love for her son, and she was going to pay a high price for her oversight.  
  
"He killed my mother. I was five years old, dammit! He laughed, when he killed Alex. He laughed!"  
  
"He's not evil anymore! We saved him!" Piper was beginning to falter, but she was so angry...  
  
"You fool! It wasn't Gideon that turned him evil, or some demon you can vanquish, some spell you can reverse! His power corrupted him, nothing more. So I took away his power."  
  
"You think you can lie to me?!" Piper didn't want to admit that she might be right, that her son was evil. "I'll kill you!" She raised her hands, and the vortex widened. Alison teetered on the edge.  
  
She had one last chance. "I saw him kill you." It was a simple statement, said by a hero who had almost given up.  
  
The vortex disappeared. Piper stared at her in shock. "What?"  
  
"He was fifteen. He appeared, with a few of his demons. He imprisoned you in his shield, with no air."  
  
Piper stared at her in shock. She didn't want this to be true, but she knew it was.  
  
"You begged him to let you live." Her voice was, cold hard. "Chris heard the commotion, and came downstairs. Wyatt made him watch as you slowly suffocated."  
  
"I was a child then, a baby. I didn't understand what was going on. He killed you, Piper. And then he left, without looking back."  
  
Piper just stood there, shocked.  
  
"But now I changed all that. He only has whitelighter powers. He can protect himself, but he can't attack. Also, he can use his shield to defend himself, but never again to kill. He won't hurt anyone, ever again."  
  
Piper nodded, then ran forward and held Wyatt tight to her chest. Had he- would he- might he do what she had said? She knew it was true. This girl had saved Wyatt.  
  
A tear slowly traced itself down Alison's cheek. She had fought so hard, but she would never have what Wyatt had. She would never have parents to love her. She orbed out, before she could start to cry in earnest.  
  
Piper stood silently, and let her go. _That poor child._ The image of Wyatt killing her, of Wyatt laughing at her, was still fresh in her mind.  
  
The baby in her arms stared at her with those solemn eyes. She slowly walked downstairs.  
  
As quickly as it had come, it was gone. There was nothing save the mess to hint at the ghostly visitation. It was then that Leo realized that Piper and Wyatt were missing.  
  
"Piper?" he called, "Piper?"  
  
She walked into the room, holding Wyatt. Chris stood in a corner, barely daring to breathe.  
  
"You know that girl? Wyatt's daughter? Well she just stripped Wyatt's powers."  
  
"WHAT?!!"  
  
"It's okay. He still has defensive whitelighter powers, he just can't hurt anyone."  
  
"And that excuses what she did?" Leo could not believe this. First Chris had died, and then that- that- bitch had done this to his other son.  
  
"He killed me, Leo."  
  
"What?" He was confused. "What are you talking about?"  
  
"Wyatt. In the future. He killed me, he killed all of us. Even after we got rid of Gideon. His power corrupted him."  
  
"How do you know that she's telling the truth?"  
  
"She's my granddaughter. I can tell." Piper was adamant.  
  
"All right." Maybe it was all for the best. And he had seen the way that girl was messed up. Maybe this way, she would be all right. Maybe I'll have a chance to get to know my granddaughter, he thought.

Chris made himself visible one last time. "I love you," he said simply. Then he disappeared forever, and went back to his own time.

88888888  
  
Maybe they would be happy.

Alison reappeared in her bed. She slowly got up, barely daring to hope.  
  
As she walked into the dining room, she saw her parents, eating breakfast.  
  
"There you are, sweetie." Her mother smiled.  
  
Her father was smiling at her. She ran to her parents, and hugged them, like she would never let them go. "Oh, thank god," she said.  
  
"Is something wrong?" Her father was concerned.  
  
"Nothing's wrong." She laughed with joy. "Nothing's wrong at all."  
  
_Finis_  
  
A/N: Okay, that's about it. I may add an epilogue sometime, but don't get your hopes up, I'm working on my new story now.  
  
Don't forget to review! 


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